


killing me softly

by afrostpatternintherain



Series: dialuci hanahaki au [1]
Category: Shall We Date?: Obey Me!
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Asmodeus relationships are only hinted at though, Blood, Blood and Gore, Canon-Typical Violence, Hanahaki Disease, Implied Relationships, M/M, Misunderstandings, Sharing a Bed, Vomiting, diavolo is CEO of simping for lucifer nation, lucifer is emotionally constipated, no satans were harmed in this production
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-30
Updated: 2020-09-18
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:53:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 31,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25603129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afrostpatternintherain/pseuds/afrostpatternintherain
Summary: Lucifer suffers from hanahaki disease and doesn't want to accept the fact that his feelings for Lord Diavolo might go far beyond those of a most devoted subject . After all, he can't allow himself to be more than Lord Diavolo's most devoted right hand man.Hellbent on keeping his disease a secret until the very end, will Lucifer manage to deceive all his loved ones?
Relationships: Asmodeus (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!)/Original Male Character(s), Asmodeus/Solomon (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!), Diavolo & Lucifer (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!), Diavolo/Lucifer (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!), Leviathan (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!)/Original Male Character(s), Satan (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!)/Original Male Character(s)
Series: dialuci hanahaki au [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1945075
Comments: 95
Kudos: 439





	1. Anger

Lucifer sat in front of his desk, working restlessly through another stack of papers. Complaints, letters, suggestions and much more with levels ranging from confidential to downright stupid and a waste of his precious time.

All in all it was a fairly normal day at the Royal Academy of Diavolo for Lucifer.

He was already far behind with his work, so in preparation he had stocked up on coffee and dextrose. It would be yet another sleepless night spent bent over his table.

As Lord Diavolo's right hand man he couldn't allow himself to deliver anything less than perfect. After all, he wanted to ensure that Diavolo's vision for the Devildom would be successfully realized.

Nothing except for the quiet humming of classical music and the frantic scratching of pen on paper filled Lucifer's prestigious chambers as he finished paperwork after paperwork.

Although he was exhausted and overworked, Lucifer kept pushing through.

He was aware of the heaviness of his eyelids and the way his body almost buzzed with exhaustion, but just pretended as if neither were a major issue.

After letting out a deep breath and pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance, he took out another pile of papers and began scanning the writing, yet not taking in any of the words.

He needed sleep, but that would mean having to fall behind on even more paperwork. Lord Diavolo was on another seven day long trip to their neighbouring kingdom, so he was now depending even more heavily on Lucifer than he usually would.

Lucifer finally lost the fight against his tiredness and felt his heavy lids fall shut. His body fell forwards and with a particularly painful thud his head hit the table and Lucifer felt more awake than ever before.

„Damn it!! “ he cursed as he rubbed the sore spot where his forehead had just hit his mahogany desk. This would definitely leave either a bruise or a bump.

Great, even more fodder for his vulture brothers who were practically looking for rips in his perfect big brother act.

Enough was enough. At this point even he, the great demon Lucifer, had to admit temporary defeat.

Lucifer put down his pen and slowly stood up. Even though he was fairly used to being overworked, he felt worse than usual. He felt like he was getting sick. There was no way he had caught a regular demon sickness, there was just no way. Yet despite his state of denial, Lucifer's head was buzzing with sick delirium and he could feel the soreness of his throat and his constricted lungs. Suddenly, it felt hard to breathe.

He was overtaken by the sudden urge to cough. A single cough escaped his lips and Lucifer cursed inwardly.

This was not the time. He still had two stacks of paperwork to work through, several new announcements to file and a couple of Mammon's messes to deal with.

Lucifer stopped dead in his tracks.

Strangely, he felt something small graze the palm of his hand. As he looked down, he was hit with reality. A wave of difficult emotions hit him unexpectedly: Anger, confusion, denial, then followed by a bitter kind of acceptance.

Outwardly, he still looked completely blasé. Lucifer had perfected his poker face decades ago.

With two fingers, he picked up the small flower petal he'd evidently just coughed up. Void of emotion, he inspected it.

There was the petal of a white rose laying in his palm.

Lucifer had contracted the hanahaki disease, there was no mistaking it.

A sudden anger hit him. Lucifer gave in to temptation and swiped the stacks of paper, bottles of ink and the mug he'd gotten from Diavolo off the table in a swift motion. He let out a frustrated shout before looking at the mess he'd made.

Right at that moment he heard movement and quickly tried to collect himself. And collect himself, he did not manage to do.

Satan stuck his head around the door and curiously peeked into Lucifer's study, apparently lured in by the promise of witnessing an enraged Lucifer.

„Lucifer?“ he asked as he took in the mess that was Lucifer's study.

„Get out!!“ Lucifer yelled as he chucked the heaviest devildom encyclopedia he could find at Satan's head.

His little brother yelped, dodged the book and then left the room. „And they say I'm the one with the anger issues,“ he mumbled.

Now that he was in solitude again, Lucifer let himself sink down into his chair.

Arms crossed, he stared at the shattered mug on the ground that said „ Favourite Person“, followed by an incredibly embarrassing cartoon heart.

For the first time in a long time Lucifer knew has was in big trouble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been toying with this idea for quite a while, but it's quite hard for me to write Lucifer. I think I've got the hang of it now though!  
> Visit me on twitter under @simpingshrimp or on tumblr under leviathanswingman.  
> Comments, kudos and criticism are always appreciated!  
> Take care of yourselves and have a good day or night <3


	2. Stained Purity

„So how are things going, is everything alright over there? Your brothers haven't caused you too much grief, right?“ Diavolo's cheery voice sounded through the speaker of Lucifer's phone.

„Are you eating right and getting enough sleep? Your voice sounds different than usual, you're not coming down with some mysterious epidemic now, are you?“

Lucifer sighed deeply. He had no problem keeping up with Diavolo's ramblings, after all he'd had years upon years of learning to decipher them.

„Lord Diavolo-“

„That's it! I bet you've been overworking yourself again. That sounds very much like a thing you would do.“

„May I remind you that you were the one who let his work pile up in the first place, leaving me to clean up the mess _you_ have caused. I will not allow myself to waste a single second that I could be working. I am your right hand man and therefore the results I deliver shall not be lesser than perfection. I am honoured about your concern, but my body can handle this just fine.“

For a split second Lucifer's mind slipped and he found himself thinking about his current _ailment_. The fact itself that he, Lucifer, had caught the hanahaki disease was akin to a spit in the face to him. It was a widely known fact that Lucifer had an unwavering devotion to Diavolo. However how deep this devotion went was a secret that Lucifer tried to hide in the deepest corners of his mind. As Diavolo's trusted right hand man inappropriate feelings would only introduce conflict to their relationship. Just like that, Lucifer had vowed to never act upon these feelings. With utmost care he had never let their relationship get too close just to now get utterly betrayed by his own body.

All of a sudden, Diavolo laughed loudly and Lucifer barely managed to remove the phone from his ear so he wouldn't suffer from eternal hearing loss.

There was a tickle in the back of his throat and he tried to clear it without drawing too much attention, hoping it'd be enough to force back the insolent little petal.

“If you overwork yourself, you'll get sick. I won't hesitate to tattle on you and send Yuuta or one of your brothers after you. Like a babysitter! I'd pay good money to see such a rare sight! Ahaha!” Diavolo barked out, once again lost in boisterous laughter.

A rare smile ghosted over Lucifer's lips before he caught himself. He pinched the phone between his chin and shoulder as he began working on a complaint one of the teachers had submitted about Asmodeus misusing empty classrooms for illicit and explicit activities.

He wasn't even surprised anymore, this was fairly typical for his harlot of a brother. Concerning his brothers, Lucifer was desensitized to most of their stupidities.

“Is there anything else you might need me for?” Lucifer asked. Originally he had called to give a report on the happenings in the devildom while Diavolo was away on his trip, but somehow he had been lured into this nonsensical discussion with him.

“Oh not really, I actually just wanted to hear your beautiful voice, Lucifer,” Diavolo answered nonchalantly.

Lucifer jumped in surprise as he was hit with the violent need to throw up petals. His phone dropped to the ground and he quickly covered his mouth with much force to stifle any sounds. The petal came out quickly and aggressively. Lucifer opened his fist just to be faced with 5 petals. It got worse and it got worse quick. With a growl he crushed the petals.

“Lucifer? What happened?” he could make out Diavolo's muted voice coming from the still ongoing phone call.

 _Fuck,_ Lucifer cursed in thought only.

Angrily, Lucifer wiped his mouth and picked up the phone again.

“ I've t-” he had to take a moment to clear his throat with as much dignity as he could muster. “I've told you before, Lord Diavolo, you needn't shower me with praise like that.”

“If I remember correctly you told me that I shouldn't praise you excessively in public. You never said anything about me not praising you during our private times. After all, you are my brilliant morning star. I just can't help myself.” Diavolo's voice resounded deep and sultry with the last words that had left his mouth.

The vines infesting Lucifer's lungs shifted uncomfortably and slowly, a slithering sensation akin to a snake approaching its prey. Lucifer's chest swelled with nothing but _want_. He took the feeling right by the throat and squelched it.

“I'm your most devoted servant, Lord Diavolo. I'm not deserving of praise like that,” he uttered.

On the other line of the call, he could hear Diavolo shuffle around.

“Somehow, you're acting different than usual, Lucifer. If there's anything that is bothering you, just say the word. You know I'd go above and beyond for you,” Diavolo said. “Also, please drop the 'Lord'. You are my dear friend and we've known each other for an eternity and longer, ” he then added and Lucifer shuddered.

“I would appreciate it if we could switch topics now, Lord-” he cleared his throat. For once, he would indulge in his demon prince's antics. He sighed, took a deep breath and corrected himself. “No. Diavolo.”

The broad smile on Diavolo's face was almost audible. After that, they kept talking for a while before Lucifer had to get ready for a meeting at RAD.

“ See you soon then!” Diavolo yelled out as Lucifer was busy straightening and adjusting his uniform until it was pristine looking.

“Of course. Can I count on you not to get yourself in trouble while you're away? There are only a few days left and I fear I might start getting wrinkles if I have to deal with even more childish shenanigans.”

This got a chuckle out of Diavolo. “My precious Lucifer would still be blindingly stunning even with wrinkles, don't worry about that. Ah, I already miss seeing your ever so serious face. I can't wait to return home to you!” he chuckled and then abruptly ended the call.

For a moment Lucifer only stared at the now black screen.

“What did he-?” The vines in his chest shifted once again and left him kneeling on the ground, coughing and choking. A whole white rose fell to the ground with a wet sound. It was covered in blood and spit.

Lucifer stared at the bloody petals.

What an insult to his devotion to Lord Diavolo. Hanahaki disease was for utter fools who would go out and fall in love with people that were way out of their league and didn't return those feelings. Everyday fatalities, if you want. The result of a hopeless society.

To say Lucifer loved Diavolo would be an affronting understatement. Lucifer had sworn his loyalty to Diavolo; what Diavolo wanted he was willing to give at any cost. Lucifer was utmost devoted to Diavolo.

The thought that a life in which they were equals and he himself was allowed to amuse _carna_ l and _romantic_ thoughts about Lord Diavolo could ever exist made Lucifer laugh out loud. His cold laughter echoed against the walls of the room.

Swiftly, Lucifer picked himself up and once again straightened the folds of his uniform. He had a pristine reputation to uphold. He was, after all, Lucifer the morning star, the avatar of pride and Diavolo's right hand man.

He threw one last cold look at the blood-covered white rose laying on the ground and spit on it before stomping on it repeatedly. Stained purity, much like himself all those years ago when he had sworn his loyalty to the demon prince.

As he had collected himself and let out the most superficial part of his anger, he made his way to the door. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a person dashing away from the door. Someone had been watching him.

“Hold it right there or you will be punished extensively,” Lucifer growled as he transformed into his demon form. How long had that person been eavesdropping? _How much_ had they seen?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey hey hey! It's been literal years since I've updated this quickly. I'm a bit sick atm so I'm stuck in bed all day, so nothing better to do than make Lucifer suffer.  
> On a sidenote if y'all are interested, Yuuta is my MC. I first thought about just putting in the general MC but it felt weird to me to not have him in there. From always imagining Yuuta as the MC to go back to just adding the general plain MC felt just weird to me. Like where's the flavor??? So yeah to make a long story short I loved writing this chapter, even though I kind of escalated since the call between DiaLuci was supposed to be like 300 words long.  
> As always, I'm always up for comments, criticism or kudos!  
> If you want to see what else I'm interested in you can visit me on twitter under @simpingshrimp and on tumblr under @leviathanswingman  
> Ps: I might change the title of this fic since I'm not entirely happy with it. Choosing the titles is always the worst for me, forgive me!  
> I hope you're all having a nice day,stay safe and treat yourselves kindly!


	3. Caught

After a moment, footsteps were heard and then, trembling, Asmodeus and Yuuta moved back into frame. Of course of all possibilities , it had to be the least tolerable one.

Lucifer grabbed both Asmo and Yuuta by their collars and yanked them back into his room, slamming the door shut beside them.

Asmodeus stumbled rather gracefully before quickly turning around and catching Yuuta who had stumbled due to Lucifer's violent behaviour.

With crossed arms and furrowed brows he returned to his human form so he could properly interrogate them.

„You insolent brats. Pray tell, what business do you two have to be eavesdropping like that? Asmodeus, have I not taught you better? And Yuuta, although I am aware that you have spent most of your youth around the wrong crowd that doesn't excuse such invasive behaviour. Or did the two of you perhaps want to get punished? I can surely think of at least 100 ways of tortures to fit your tastes,“ he threatened, his voice low and gravelly.

Without any hesitation Asmo moved closer to Lucifer and got up in his face, not minding the casual invasion of privacy. He jutted his finger right in Lucifer's face.

„Oh my darling older brother! Admit to it, you would rather punish someone else who isn't Yuuta or I. I never thought you would catch hanahaki, but it all makes sense! Though I'm quite saddened you didn't fall for little old me, the most desired bachelor of the devildom, I'm surprised it took you this long to catch hanahaki for Lord Diavolo. Aah~ what a pity,“ he sighed as he waved his hand dramatically and turned back around to Yuuta. He embraced him tightly, muttering quietly. „This is so saddening, won't you cheer my up, you cutie?“

„Asmo, I don't think this is the time-“

Too little too late. Lucifer had already grabbed his brother by the neck and shoved him roughly against the door.

Asmo yelped in surprise. „Ack! Not my beautiful face!“

„Listen here. This is none of your business Asmodeus,“ he whispered in his ear.

Yuuta had gotten more or less used to the unnecessary violence he often stumbled upon in the devildom, yet he couldn't help flinching. He gathered himself and then let out a deep groan, running his hand over his face in exasperation.

“Why do you have to be like that?”

“I don't want to hear a single word from you either, Yuuta. You aren't off the hook either.”

He then let go off Asmo and fixed the two of them with a glare.”I'm letting you off scot-free this time. But believe me; you do not want to disrespect me like that again, I already have my mind on several punishments for you two in case you repeat your actions.”

For a moment no one said a word.

Lucifer raised one eyebrow. “So? I'm waiting.”

Finally, Asmo looked up. There was an unmistakable look of concern tainting his delicate features.

“I _am_ sorry, but please listen to what I actually wanted to say. You don't even have to answer, please just listen.”

It was quiet except for the continuous ticking of a clock.

Yuuta felt the urgent need to dig a hole and just throw himself into it. You could cut the tension with a knife.

“Alright. I'm only allowing this because you are my brother, Asmodeus. Do _not_ disappoint me.”

“Lucifer I know you don't like to share your feelings with us, but please think about yourself for once!” He grabbed Lucifer's hands and pulled them close to his chest. “Talk to Diavolo when he comes home. I couldn't bare seeing you die because you're too proud to open up. I know the way love works best, if you ignore it it _will_ turn around on you. We all know that you either confess to your darling or will end up dying. Lord Diavolo surely wouldn't mind! It's clear to see how enamoured he is with you, he never even looked at me, the prettiest demon alive! I mean anyone who doesn't even look at me must be terribly whipped for someone else.” He let go of Lucifer's hands and interlocked fingers with Yuuta's hands instead. “We will be off then!”

With that, the two of them dashed out of the room, leaving Lucifer all by himself again.

For a moment, Lucifer entertained the thought of Lord Diavolo truly loving him. _Snap out of it_ , he thought.

He surely was aware of how focussed Lord Diavolo was on him, but it was nothing more than the sort of interest a child would have for their favourite toy. Ever since the day Lucifer had fallen, Diavolo had shown a twisted interest in him. But it was different in notion to the kind of devotion Lucifer had for Diavolo.

To think that Asmodeus had been daring enough to call him out like that. Lucifer chuckled. To think that his brother thought Diavolo could ever devote himself to Lucifer so deeply, even monopolize him.

Suddenly, he found himself being reminded of his demon prince's intense, golden eyes, broad arms and rich, tan skin.

For a moment the thought of what it would be like to be completely ravished by those strong hands, those luscious lips, took over his mind.

Yet again, he was interrupted by the feeling of several petals forcing their way up his windpipe. Quickly, Lucifer grabbed the nearest trash bin and coughed out his feelings. There went his dignity.

As he stared at the petals, a sick laugh escaped his lips.

The great demon Lucifer, reduced to nothing but petals and pathetic feelings.

After he was done, he got up and checked himself in the mirror. The man in the mirror stared back at him. Miraculously, his uniform still looked pristine, but his face told another story. The bags under his eyes were clearly visible and the look in his eyes was as cold as usual, but if you looked closely you could see the emptiness that hid in plain sight.

Lucifer clicked his tongue before he broke the mirror with his fist. Hot blood was dripping to the ground, covering the shards on the ground. Nothing was filling the silence except for the continuous sound of blood dripping to the ground.

Punishment. Punishment for overstepping his bounds. Punishment for misplaced and disruptive feelings.

Lucifer checked the time. He grabbed his DDD and made his way to the meeting. As Lord Diavolo's right hand man, he had no business arriving late.

Asmo still held onto Yuuta's hand as they walked down the hallway. They hadn't said much since they'd escaped Lucifer's room.

“So,” Yuuta started, glancing at Asmo. “You were right. When you first told me something was wrong I didn't really believe you. I mean it's Lucifer we're talking about. His creepy looking face never changes in my eyes, so I really didn't think anything was wrong. But for him to catch hanahaki...”

Asmo smiled sadly. “He's always been like this. His devotion to Diavolo might also be his downfall. He's so devoted he sees himself as nothing but a tool.”

Yuuta gripped Asmo's hand more tightly. “So it's like that.”

“Yup! I mean love is love! Why can't he understand that there's nothing wrong with being completely enamoured with someone?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm rediscovering my love for writing, I think. As I said after chapter two, I'm usually less reliable. Sorry, I'm an Asmo simp so I had to bring him into this. Also I think he would be one of the best people to talk about hanahaki with. My second choice probably would've been Beel since he's very chill and devoted to his family. Guess I've recently drinking respect Bell juice bc I used to dislike him.   
> On a sidenote, while writing this I've been listening to Yagami Yato obey me audios and I'm not even ashamed of it. That woman has some skills.  
> Thank you for reading, I love and appreciate you. If you want to follow me on social media you can, as always, follow me on twitter under @simpingshrimp or on tumblr under @leviathanswingman  
> PS: In case you're confused, I've changed the title from 'the union forever' to 'killing me softly'. i like this one much better.  
> I always appreciate comments, criticism and kudos, take care of yourselves and don't be a pest rat in these times!


	4. Golden Honey

Today was the day Lucifer had dreaded the most. It was the day of Lord Diavolo's return to the devildom.

The beginning of what might be the biggest trial of his life. The thought of having to mislead Diavolo like he was planning to had left him spend the night a mess hanging over the toilet bowl. Lucifer found himself contemplating whether at this point there was any ounce of dignity left in his body or not. The whole situation was unruly and sickening. Yet still, he couldn't help thinking about those captivating golden eyes that always seemed to follow him. That deep voice. His boisterous laughter. The scent of leather and honey stuck in his nose.

He was only making this whole ordeal harder on himself. Why he simply couldn't remove those pesky feelings was a mystery to him. Many times had he thought about doing it, yet he could never go through with it. Perhaps for the better. There was no need for him to spawn yet another demon brat.

Diavolo, followed by Barbatos, could arrive any minute now.

Lucifer checked his reflection in the mirror, which had been replaced after _the incident_ , one last time. Unsurprisingly, his looks reflected his physical state. His skin looked sickly pale and had lost it's usual shine, under his eyes were heavy, purple, bags.

The other day, Asmo had jokingly offered him concealer and Lucifer had thrown a flower pot after him for it.

These days, he found himself to be highly irritable to a fault.

With a sigh he fixed his hair and then made his way to their agreed upon meeting spot.

As usual, he arrived 15 minutes prior to their arrival. Being on time was one of the most important virtues. Also, being on time was a virtue most of his brothers failed to abide by.

Lucifer felt worse for wear. His head was pounding with an unsteady rhythm and his throat was raw since had spent the whole night throwing up full flowers. Although he bathed thoroughly he never seemed to get rid of the sickly stench of white roses. The scent was stuck in his nose.

He suddenly heard the sound of quick, heavy footsteps.

“Lucifer!!” someone shouted. He didn't need to turn around to know who had been calling out for him. This person's imposing presence was unmistakably overwhelming.

Lord Diavolo.

In the blink of an eye Lucifer found himself held prisoner in a bone-crushing embrace.

“Lord Diavolo!” he growled as a petal ghosted past his lips and slowly landed on Diavolo's shoulder. Lucifer felt quite restless. Normally, he'd growl and grumble and simply endure Diavolo's natural clinginess, but now he was being put in a compromising situation.

Lucifer didn't quite know what to do with his hands, so he settled on patting Diavolo's broad, muscular back awkwardly.

“There, there, You're acting like a big baby, Lord Diavolo,” he mumbled with the slightest hint of a smile on his face.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Barbatos smiling at him. That bastard. Of course he would know. There was no hiding from Barbatos. Barbatos knew everything.

“I've just missed you so much! I feel like I haven't seen you in decades!”

“You were gone for a week.”

All of a sudden, Diavolo nuzzled his face against Lucifer's neck. His soft hair tickled against Lucifer's skin and he tensed up a little more. “I've got so much to tell you about, so there was this incubus-” he started as Barbatos cleared his throat.

“Although I hate to interrupt the two of you, we first have more serious issues to discuss. After that, you are free to do whoever you please.”

Lucifer choked on another petal and glowered at Barbatos. This. Sneaky. Bastard.

Diavolo finally released Lucifer and smiled. “Don't you mean whatever? You said whoever,” he said, tilting his head in confusion.

“Did I? That's on me then, I apologize.”

Despite his words it was very apparent that he had, in fact, not confused his words. The sheer audacity of this man. Lucifer felt incredibly tempted to throw hands with Barbatos right here and there, but with Diavolo with them that was not an option.

“My Lord, may I?” Barbatos suddenly pointed at Lord Diavolo's shoulder. “Something seems to be stuck to your uniform, let me get it for you.”

With a quick motion Barbatos snatched the petal off Lord Diavolo's uniform. “How curious. I don't remember having seen any white rose bushes in the royal gardens. How could it have gotten here, I wonder?”

Lucifer froze in place and was left staring at the small petal between Barbatos' slender fingers. Diavolo and Barbatos' voices merged with the background noises as an unsettling static noise grew louder and louder in Lucifer's ears. Though he could see their lips move, his brain couldn't process what they were saying.

As Barbatos dropped the petal in Diavolo's cupped hands, something shifted in him. He could make out one single word coming out of Diavolo's mouth.

_Beautiful._

A stabbing pain emerged from Lucifer's lungs and grew and grew in intensity.

Funny how he was considered to be one of the most feared demons in the world, yet he could be taken down by something as mundane as suffocation. A bitter laugh left his lips.

Thankful that the other two demons were currently distracted, Lucifer grabbed this opportunity by the neck and booked it. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Lord Diavolo lift his head and for a moment, their eyes met.

Golden honey, the sweetest seduction. His lungs were aching, yet he couldn't stop thinking about the intense look in those eyes.

Royally and kindly, he was fucked.

Lucifer managed to round the last corner when his body finally gave up on him. His knees buckled and he had to hold onto the wall for support, struggling. As he tried to take another step he finally swayed once more and collapsed to the ground.

Lucifer awoke to the soft clacking of something being placed on the ground. As he opened his eyes he was met with green eyes.

The sharp pain in his lungs returned mercilessly. Promptly, he started to cough again but before he was able to hack up more flowers, a bucket was pushed into his hands. It was hard to breathe and the stream of flowers didn't seem to stop. The copper taste of blood filled his mouth.

Heaving, he started at the bloody white mess. In between the flowers and petals he could make out stems with thick thorns.

“Fuck me, that's certainly a new one,” he rasped and cleaned off his mouth with the back of his hand.

He had told himself he could do this, had convinced himself that he possessed enough restraint to live this lie and make it reality. Had convinced himself from decade to decade all over again that he saw Diavolo as nothing but his Lord. What a liar he was. Lord Diavolo was everything to Lucifer. His word was the law. There was nothing Lucifer wouldn't do for him. He would conquer worlds and win wars solely for him. To only Diavolo, Lucifer was religiously devoted.

Suddenly, he felt a hand touching his shoulder softly and he snapped out of his train of thought.

Barbatos was fixing him with a serious expression on his face.

With a low growl Lucifer let himself fall back in the pillows. “So it's you, you bastard.”

“You're lucky it was me who found you. What would you have done if Lord Diavolo had found you like that? He would've freaked out. He would've never left your side after that ever again.”

“What is it you want? I know you're aware of my affliction based on the way you were acting before.” He sighed and covered his eyes with his forearm. “So just spit it out.”

Barbatos sat down on a chair next to the bed. “Confess. It's as simple as that.”

A deep chuckle escaped Lucifer's lips. “Am I suffering from brain damage? Perhaps I've been spending too much time with that idiot brother of mine, or did you in all honesty just tell me to confess to Lord Diavolo that I, of all people in his circle, am absurdly in love with him?”

For a moment he halted as his eyes widened and realization hit him. Without thinking, he had said the unthinkable.

 _Love_. In love. He was _in love with Lord Diavolo_.

Next to him, Barbatos simply sighed. “So you've finally noticed. Took you long enough. To be perfectly honest, if this ignorance of yours had gone on any longer I would've gone to Diavolo myself and confessed in your place. You two are terribly hopeless,” he stated and clapped his hands together while standing up. “We both know you're really stubborn, but get over your pride and confess to that man. He's been waiting for a while. I've been observing you two for ages and it's almost comical how oblivious the two of you are.”

“Do not-” Lucifer started, but was shushed by Barbatos who had put a finger over his lips.

“Judging off the stage of hanahaki you're in already you have less than a week left, Lucifer. Do you really plan on sacrificing everything just so you can keep your dignity?” He lifted his finger off Lucifer's mouth. “Think about it. I'll be taking my leave then.”

With that, Barbatos exited the room, leaving Lucifer conflicted and lost in his thoughts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heya guys, I'm once again back with another chapter. If I think about, this chapter's basic summary would be: clowning Lucifer is really fun. Also I'm so happy I got to finally let Diavolo appear I love big tiddie man very much. In conclusion, bullying Lucifer is fun. Also he's lowkey dying but sometimes it just be like that.  
> As always, thank you for reading! This fanfic helped me rediscover my love for writing so it's very dear to me. Also, there definitely isn't enough DiaLuci content, so I have to create the kind of stuff i like to see myself.  
> Visit me on tumblr under @leviathanswingman or on twitter as @simpingshrimp  
> Kudos, comment and criticism are always appreciated and make my day. Stay hydrated kids and I hope y'all had a nice day! <3


	5. Acceptance

_Love_

Of course Lucifer had to have come to such a life changing revelation at the worst of times. They were in the middle of planning a celebration for the royals of the kingdom Diavolo had last visited, as some sort of peace offering and mutual treaty after a bunch of altercations between their kingdoms.

The celebrations were set to take place in five days.

Lucifer was up to his neck in preparations since he had to plan everything on short notice. Now he had to somehow balance the stress of all of that combined with the uncertainty of whether or not he should tell Diavolo what he'd been going through all these days the prince had been gone.

Even worse, the demon prince had certainly started to get suspicious that something was going on with him, but due to their busy schedules, Lucifer had always managed to slip past him at just the right time. It was getting harder and harder on him, both physically and mentally.

The few hours of sleep he managed to get, he found himself stuck in a drowsy state; not asleep yet not quite awake either. He couldn't escape it. Whenever he closed his eyes he was haunted by pictures of Diavolo, was haunted by his voice when he wasn't even remotely close. Still, he couldn't find it in himself to renounce his position as Diavolo's right hand man. It would've been the right thing to do, yet there was no way for him to betray his prince like that. Lucifer had always taken pride in being like the personification of loyalty itself, so he had quietly and fiercely chosen death over disloyalty.

However, this didn't lessen his suffering. It was as if his body was longing to be close to Diavolo's and Lucifer himself played the part of the ruthless dictator. He denied his body what it so desperately wanted. What it desperately needed. But Diavolo was not _in love_ with him, he was most certain of that fact. Lucifer's heart hurt and his lungs ached at that thought, yet he wouldn't allow himself to slip into foolish illusions. He'd always been a realist. Of course, Diavolo had developed a certain fondness of Lucifer, but that didn't mean anything.

So whenever Lucifer saw Diavolo, he conveniently had to attend business on the other side of the academy, when in truth, he was spending minutes upon minutes in the bathroom, coughing up blood, roses and regrets. What he regretted the most he himself couldn't even tell.

The only thing Lucifer knew was that he was running out of time. He had less than five days left because for the first time in his life, he'd let someone in and had fallen in love. Talk about eternal punishment.

Whenever he thought fate couldn't deal him more malice, he was massively disappointed all over again.

All of a sudden, his DDD rang loud and clear, pulling him out of his thoughts, back to the real world. Subconsciously, he rubbed his chest, right where his lungs were sitting, tangled up in roots and thorns. He shouldn't think this much about Diavolo, he was aware of that, but it was the only thing concerning him that Lucifer could allow himself without doubling over with flowers filling up his windpipe. No matter how much he hated to admit it, he was in love with him after all. What a strange twist of fate.

He picked up the phone. “Yes?”

“Yahoo, it's your darling little brother, the one and only Asmodeus!” the melodious voice of his brother rang through the speakers.

A sigh left Lucifer's lips as he rubbed his temples in annoyance. “You are aware that I can see your caller ID, right? I do in fact have your contact saved,” he grumbled.

“Aww Lucifer! You flatter me!” Asmo chirped on, his loud and hyper voice only amplifying Lucifer's ever-growing headache.

“If you consider something like that flattery you might need to get your standards checked. So, what do you want? You know I'm preparing for the celebration, there's still too much to do. I'm not in the mood for your games, so no dawdling unless you want to get punished thoroughly and rigidly,” he said in a brash manner, his brows furrowed.

“Yeah, yeah! No need to get so worked up, I can almost hear you glaring at me again! All that frowning will get you wrinkles at your young age, you know?” Asmo began to babble.

“I am giving you a count to three,” Lucifer stated coldly. “One.”

“Live a little! I Just wanted to-”

“Two,” Lucifer continued, a threatening aura starting to seep from every single of his pores. Asmodeus was really testing him today with the way he was clearly avoiding to finally get to the reason for his little call.

For a moment there came nothing but silence from the other end of the phone, then there was an audible intake of breath. “So... The thing is...” Asmo started, voice suddenly nervous.

“Thr-”

_Click_

“Eek!” with a startling yelp, Asmodeus had hung up on him.

For a moment, Lucifer simply stared at the symbol signalling that the call had been disconnected. “Oh? Well that just takes the cake. I will teach him his place, that little-”

“Lucifer.”

That voice again. Realization dawned upon him as he turned around. It all made sense now. The nonsensical call, the stalling. All of this had been a setup. There was a reason Asmo had been dawdling around like that.

Someone must've asked him to distract Lucifer. And that exact someone was now standing behind him. Lucifer wasn't even surprised Asmo had agreed to this. His brother knew about his illness and had grand illusions about the way Lord Diavolo felt for Lucifer. Asmodeus now definitely deserved a few proper nights in the punishment chambers.

„Is there anything you need from me, Diavolo?“ Lucifer asked, trying to sound as normal as usual. He was still exceptionally mad about this whole little diversion, but didn't try to show it all that much. After all, Diavolo's plan had worked out just fine. Lucifer was less attentive due to his hanahaki, and had been even more distracted by Asmo's shenanigans. He tried to represent what was always expected from him:a calm and collected demeanour.

„My my, Lucifer. It's been a while since I've seen you this worked up. Is anything the matter?“ he purred. There was a confusing smile on his face before he let his warm hand run down Lucifer's naked arm.

For a moment Lucifer cursed himself for having swapped out his suit for a sleeveless black turtleneck, but it had simply been too hot. Despite the warm air in the room he found himself shivering under Diavolo's touch.

“Maybe that's because I haven't seen you around all that much lately,” he mumbled, letting his hand run even deeper down until he could run his thumbs over Lucifer's knuckles.

Lucifer shook under the unexpected soft touches. He was used to violence and terror, but soft touches like these were completely strange to him. Involuntarily, he could feel his gut filling up with want, yet he also trembled under Diavolo's overwhelming presence, which threatened to swallow him whole.

“Making up excuses doesn't sound like you Lucifer, and I know you'd never lie to me, which would explain your silence right now. You're avoiding me for a reason, am I correct?” Diavolo asked calmly, with an unreadable expression. His hand gripped Lucifer's more tightly and with that, Lucifer forced himself to lock eyes with Diavolo.

For once, he wished his eyes could express what his mouth refused to say. He had always been the oldest, had always carried responsibilities too big for his beaten body. Now for once, he refused to solve his problems heartlessly and without regards to his own well-being. For once, he disobeyed and decided to be oh so selfish.

As he refused to look away from Diavolo's eyes, an electric shock ran through him. He had made his decision and there was no going back. He truly loved Diavolo.

This was the first time in ages that he had allowed Diavolo to stay this close to him for this long. He felt hypnotized by the prince's eyes, hypnotized by the way they seemed to practically devour him whole.

As soon as it had started, the moment was ruined when Lucifer grabbed Diavolo's other arm in a tight grip without letting go.

“Leave before it's too late, Diavolo. You shouldn't be here,” he forced out, breathing heavily, desperately trying to control his breathing until Diavolo would finally leave the room. “I don't want your pity.

“Before it's too late for what?” Diavolo managed to ask before he saw the other's pained expression. A disturbing smile was painted across Lucifer's face and his otherwise emotionless eyes looked wet and conflicted.

“Before it's too late for what?! Lucifer, talk to me!”

Lucifer opened up his mouth, but before he could talk he suddenly gripped Diavolo tightly by his wrists, leaving red claw marks.

A sea of bloody petals, flowers, thorns and stems forced themselves out of his mouth as he began to crumble to the ground, hands still holding onto Diavolo desperately and painfully.

Quickly, Diavolo lowered Lucifer to the ground and tried to hold him up by his shoulders as best as he could.

“LUCIFER!”

Lucifer was wheezing and choking, but still he held onto Diavolo for dear life. Even if he wanted to let go, he didn't think he could.

With one big cough, a full white rose with a stem and thorns forced itself out of Lucifer's mouth, followed by huge amounts of blood. As he gasped for air, Diavolo carefully put his hand on the back of Lucifer's neck and leaned his head against his chest, letting him rest there for a moment.

“Who is it?” he whispered, but didn't get an answer.

Lucifer had lost consciousness.

Fighting against the panic rising up in his chest, Diavolo picked Lucifer up, one arm supporting his back while the other went under his legs. Barbatos would certainly know how to help Lucifer. He just had to know.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I was on vacation for a view days and then got a bit more inspiration to write again! I don't really know how to feel about this chapter yet, but i included everything I wanted to include. I hope this doesn't feel too ooc for Lucifer, I'm always having some difficulties writing him. Dialogue-wise i think I'm fine but I'm always a bit uncertain when i write the parts that describe his inner thoughts. Anyways! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and also no power on earth can stop me from including Asmo bc he's the best.  
> If you want to visit me on social media you can find me on twitter under @simpingshrimp and on tumblr under @leviathanswingman .  
> As always,comments, criticism and kudos are appreciated, hope y'all are having some good times! (The last few days it's been 37 degrees over here and I'm seriously melting send help)


	6. Bedside

Everything was painted black. In this darkness, Lucifer found himself in total solitude. Ever since his fall he'd found comfort in the gloomy shadows that were roaming around all over devildom.

This darkness however was different. More threatening. Less comforting.

As he looked around, he could make out a blurry shape in the distance. It was looming in the corner of his eye, simply observing.

„Show yourself!“ Lucifer wanted to growl, yet his voice didn't want to obey him; he couldn't talk.

Confused, he raised his hand up to his throat and it came back drenched in blood. Lucifer looked down and noted that he was naked, bathed in blood and sitting inside of a gigantic white rose.

The blurry figure finally approached and reached for Lucifer, but before he could see for himself who or what had been watching him so closely, the rose's petals snapped shut, encasing Lucifer in an even darker shade of nothingness.

Lucifer awoke with a startle, shooting up from his bed. As he tried to regulate his breathing, he could feel his heart beating up to his throat.

The fact that this was now the second time in the course of a week he had woken up in a strange bed with no recollection of how he'd gotten there bothered Lucifer tremendously. This should better not turn into a habit.

As he slowly got back to his senses, he realized that he had subconsciously grabbed onto the thing closest to him, which turned out to be Lord Diavolo's arm. For a moment he was caught off guard and just stared at him.

He opened his mouth and for the first time in a while, he found himself at a loss for words. Memories of last night returned to him in flashes. The way Diavolo had been pushing and pushing, desperate to find out the reason for Lucifer's strange behaviour, ever so caring and strong. He had been so close.

And now he knew _everything_.

A mix of different and difficult emotions was swirling around Lucifer's head. He felt embarrassment over having developed an illness as ridiculous as hanahaki to begin with, felt regret for having caused such a commotion, felt anger, because out of all demons, why him?! Most of all Lucifer was downright ashamed that he had allowed himself to risk his relationship with Diavolo just because he had fallen in love.

The thought was still foreign to him, the thought of him being in love with Diavolo. However, only fools lived in denial, so Lucifer forced himself to come to terms with the fact.

Diavolo was waiting patiently at his bedside, sitting on a chair he'd probably brought over just so he could look after Lucifer. He was waiting at a bedside Lucifer did not recognize. There was a strange expression on his face ad for a moment he seemed to be lost in thought as he stared at Lucifer's hand which was still gripping onto his arm ever so tightly.

As realization hit him Lucifer quickly pulled back his hand, letting it rest on top of the blanket instead.

Diavolo mustered him with an intense look on his face and breathed out through his nose. „Were you ever going to tell me?“

Lucifer tried to avoid Diavolo's gaze, but ended up looking at his handsome face anyways. In this regard, he'd recently figured out, he was terribly weak.

He had caused Diavolo enough trouble as it was. Maybe it was time to finally fess up to his sins.

„No,“ he answered honestly and watched closely as Diavolo furrowed his brows, an unusual scowl appearing on his face. “As you've noticed, I've actually tried hiding it from you.”

“I knew something was going on. Whenever I got close to you, you ended up running away. “ All of a sudden, Diavolo stood up and moved over to Lucifer's side, placing each of his hands next to Lucifer's head, against the headboard, one knee propped up on the bed for support. He grabbed Lucifer's face with one hand and stared at him for a moment, golden eyes mustering crimson ones.

“I know you like to keep a professional distance and I've come to terms with that, but to run away from me because you're stubborn to admit that you need to take days off. You have hanahaki for fucks sake! Lucifer, you need to take time off so you can confess or get the surgery!” Diavolo shouted, never letting go.

Lucifer stared at him incredulously for several seconds. So Diavolo hadn't figured out that he was the sole reason for Lucifer's hanahaki? Of course, he was aware of the fact that the demon prince was incredibly powerful, but Lucifer often forgot how dense Diavolo could be at times as well. Although whether it was a blessing or a curse, Lucifer couldn't quite tell.

Maintaining eye contact with Diavolo, he straightened his posture. “This is exactly why I didn't want you to know. I didn't deceive you out of a lack of trust, I mislead you because I won't let anyone force me to confess,” Lucifer finally said.

“What do you mean you won't confess? Did you already get rejected by your love? Explain yourself.”

A small smile appeared on Lucifer's face before he kept going. So Diavolo really didn't know anything. This gave him the perfect opportunity to construct his final lie.

Diavolo ran his finger along Lucifer's sharp jaw and then kept his hand there, cradling his face.

“Why won't you confess? I can't think of anyone who wouldn't love you,” he murmured and Lucifer coughed not so discreetly.

“I will get the surgery tomorrow, Lord Diavolo. Everything's scheduled already. There's no need for you to worry about me,” he lied. “I'm taking care of it.”

Still, there was a worried expression on Diavolo's face. Thoughtlessly, he rubbed Lucifer's cheek with his thumb.

Lucifer didn't even try to hide the petal he had coughed up. There was no reason to hide it anymore, everything was out in the open already. The petal floated through the air and Diavolo caught it before it could hit the ground.

“A white rose petal,” Diavolo said. “The same kind that Barbatos picked off my uniform a few days ago.”

“As expected, you're quite perceptive. I've had hanahaki for two weeks now, so sooner or later you would've found out either way.”

Diavolo hesitated for a moment but then spoke up again. “You wouldn't need to get the surgery if you just confessed. Are you really willing to give up on the ability to love forever?” he then asked, his voice taking on an almost desperate tone.

 _No, I'm not_ , Lucifer thought. “Love is only a distraction,” he said instead. “Getting rid of the ability to love will only benefit me in the long run.”

“How can you say that?! Lucifer!” Diavolo suddenly exclaimed. “Who is it? Why are you so hell-bent on keeping your crush a secret?”

There it was; that word. _Crush_. Lucifer was not the kind of man to develop simple crushes. Lucifer worked in extremes only. He either loved or hated, there were no in-betweens for him.

With a swift motion he grabbed Diavolo's hand which had been caressing his skin relentlessly and oh so painfully. For a moment he allowed himself to enjoy the sensation before he put Diavolo's hand down, placing it on top of his blanket.

“There's no need for you to worry about that, Lord Diavolo. This won't distract me from my assignments.”

Before Diavolo could open his mouth to answer, there was a sharp knock on the door.

“Can we come in?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back again! Thank you for reading this ff, i'm weirdly attached to it so seeing y'all liking it is giving me way too much joy! If everything goes as planned killing me softly should be wrapped up in about 3 to 5 chapters. I'm still thinking about whether or not I should include an nsfw chapter, but since i've never written stuff like that I'm not too sure about it yet. If you have an opinion about that let me know!  
> As always, you can find me on twitter under @simpingshrimp or on tumblr under @leviathanswingman.  
> Thank you for spending your precious time on this silly little fanfiction, i appreciate every single one of you <3 comments, kudos and criticism are always appreciated! treat yourselves kindly and make sure to take time off so you won't overwork yourselves!


	7. Tired, Red Eyes

Diavolo clicked his tongue in annoyance and moved away from Lucifer, quickly smoothing down his clothes. „Come in,“ he then said to whoever had been waiting outside.

The door opened and three of Lucifer's brothers entered the room.

„Satan, Mammon, Beel. What do you want?“ Lucifer asked, his voice raspy.

Satan walked over to the bed and mustered his older brother for a moment.

„Diavolo told us you're sick, old man.“

Of course he would've told his brothers. For a second Lucifer side-eyed Diavolo before returning his attention to his family.

„Old man? Show me at least a little bit of respect, Satan. Your little rebel act is tiring.“ He sighed before continuing. This whole situation was a pain in the ass. „But since you're already here, yes, I have indeed fallen ill.“

„Help me out here, your stubborn brother has-“ Diavolo started, but was interrupted.

„Caught a simple flu. It seems like I've overworked myself in the thralls of our party preparations and because of that, my health has suffered. There's no need for you to worry about me,“ Lucifer lied through his teeth, his expression as calm as usual.

There was no need to pull his brothers into his mess as well. This was a mess he himself had created and felt responsible for. He should be able to solve it by himself.

Additionally, his brothers were always joking about Lucifer's obvious infatuation with Lord Diavolo. If they were to find out he had caught the hanahaki disease they would immediately know who must've been the cause of it. And knowing his idiot brothers, they would certainly try to solve this problem for Lucifer, only to create even more mayhem in the process.

That was just the way they were, and Lucifer definitely didn't need all of that additional drama in his life right now.

Satan's expression turned somewhat sour as he crossed his arms and averted his eyes.

„I'm not worried about you, why should I be? By the way, you look like absolute shit.“

„Duly noted. Charming as always.“

Mammon and Beel stepped up to Lucifer's bedside as well.

„Oi Lucifer, I know ye're sick and all, but why aren't ya in your own bed? Been looking all over for ya, but ya weren't in yer own room. What the hell are ya doing in Lord Diavolo's bed?! Nevermind, back to my point. Return Goldie!!“ Mammon moaned as he grabbed Lucifer by the shoulders and shook him in desperation.

“Mammon, you shouldn't treat a sick person like that,” Beel threw in as he observed the scene. “Lucifer, do you need anything? I could get you some cursed batwing soup. It's good for the soul.”

For a moment, Lucifer was frozen in place as his surroundings started to blur. Now it all made sense. The room had looked suspiciously familiar from the very beginning, yet he hadn't been able to figure out exactly why.

Now he had the confirmation he needed. Diavolo had brought him to his own private chambers. Lucifer's heart ached a little at the thought of Diavolo carrying him to his own chambers and putting him in his own bed of all things. He could've just called Barbatos to bring Lucifer back to his own room, yet he hadn't done that.

The vines in his lungs shifted slightly,not enough to make Lucifer choke on flowers again, but enough for him to rub his chest to alleviate the pain. He coughed once and could tell that he had coughed up yet another bloody petal. Luckily, it wasn't a full flower this time. He assumed this was a good sign. If given the choice of full on coughing up bloody flowers in front of his brothers, roses of all things, or instant death, Lucifer would choose death without hesitation. After all, he had his reputation as the strict oldest brother to uphold; the head of the family.

Slowly and carefully, he hid his fist which was closed tightly around the petal under the covers and right at this moment, Diavolo looked at him, eyebrows raised.

It was still utterly weird for Lucifer to know that Diavolo now knew of his embarrassing secret.

Lucifer slapped Mammon's hand off his shoulder and threw him a dark look. “You want your credit card back? How strange that now, you come to me. If I recollect correctly you've had plenty of opportunities to ask me before. If I didn't know any better I'd say you're trying to take advantage of a sick person. You wouldn't do that now, would you dearest baby brother?” he then said, his tone of voice malicious, yet still there was a creepy smile plastered to his face.

Mammon moved at god's speed and put a safe distance between himself and his brother. “Uh, no. No, no, no, I would never do that, hehe,” he stammered as he scratched his head in an aloof fashion.

All of a sudden, Beel started to sniff multiple times in quick succession. “Something smells weird,” he concluded. “Do you smell that?”

“No, not all of us are freaking deviants like you, Beel!”

“Rude. But I'm serious.” He sniffed again and then turned around to investigate the room. “It's weird. I definitely smell roses, but I can't see any close by.”

Lucifer froze again and quickly glanced at Diavolo, who glanced back at him in a sheepish manner.

“Well, Asmodeus was just here, maybe he's trying out some new perfume and that's what's left the scent?” Diavolo suggested.

“Weird, he normally goes for different scents. Whatever,” Beel finally concluded as he shrugged his shoulders.

Secretly, Lucifer let out a deep breath. Just as he felt safe enough to know that they had successfully mislead his brothers, thrown them off his scent, you might say, he caught Satan staring at him with wide eyes. You could practically see the wheels turning in his head as he mustered Lucifer with interest, finger tapping on his chin as he took in the data he'd just collected.

“No way,” he mumbled and Mammon and Beel both looked at Satan in confusion.

“What, no way?! Speak up ya damn bonehead!”

Satan still mustered Lucifer until his gaze slowly wandered over to Lord Diavolo. “No fucking way. You've got to be shitting me. I know we are always joking about this, but for you to actually...”

Once again, Lucifer found himself being simultaneously surprised and annoyed by his little brother's pristine deduction skills. At this point, he might even be a match to Barbatos.

“Language, Satan. If you have a problem, come and talk to me later,” he threw in in a clipped tone of voice, hoping that Satan would show him an ounce of respect for once and follow track.

Apparently, it was Lucifer's lucky day. Satan seemed to mull it over for a moment, then simply nodded and took off, waving without turning around. “Hope you die, old man!”

Before Lucifer could grab the closest object to throw against Satan's head, Diavolo put his hands on his shoulders and pressed him deeper into the bed.

“Did you forget you're supposed to rest? Don't force me to play nurse for you. This is a threat and you know I will go through with it if I have to.”

Lucifer grumbled a few inaudible words before he obeyed. He huffed once as he started to massage his left temple.

“These brats are going to kill me one day.”

“Oi!” Mammon, who was still present with Beel at his side, yelled out. “Don't treat me like a child! I'm the second oldest here!”

“I wasn't talking about you specifically, Mammon, but the fact that you do feel addressed speaks worlds and is intriguingly alarming.”

As Mammon sputtered, thinking of a smart comeback, Beel grabbed him by the arm and pulled him towards the door.

“We're leaving. Get well soon, Lucifer. I'll bring you some cursed batwing soup so you can recover as quick as possible. Lord Diavolo, please take care of my brother.”

Beel indicated a bow before he left, dragging a protesting Mammon with him.

Now that they were alone again, Lucifer's shoulders slumped and he coughed into a handkerchief Diavolo had given him as a present mere months ago. Diavolo looked at Lucifer and sighed before he let himself fall onto the bed lazily, lying vertically spread over Lucifer's legs.

“What am I gonna do with you, huh? I haven't seen you this rebellious ever since we met,” he mused. “Be glad that I always have your back. If your troublesome brothers were to figure out what you're hiding pandemonium would break loose,” he chuckled as he turned over on his stomach, resting on his elbows and drowsily cupping his cheeks with his hands as he swung his legs back and forth. “That must be one amazing person to get you to act like this. How jealous I am!” he chuckled, his gaze turning dark for a moment as he stared into the distance.

He snapped back as he realized it'd been eerily quiet for far too long.

“Lucifer?”

No answer came except for the muted sounds of someone struggling for air, inhaling deeply in rapid succession.

All this time, he had managed to hold it in. No matter how much his lungs ached and no matter how much effort it took him to swallow down the petals and swallow down the petals over and over again until it felt like they piled on and on, forming a huge pile. Now that his brothers had left, Lucifer had the right to feel free to vomit to his heart's content. Still, that did in no way mean that he wanted to. It meant the exact opposite of that, to be precise.

Of course, logically speaking, there was no use in hiding his hanahaki from the object of his affection anymore, but that didn't mean he felt neither confident nor safe enough in doing it right in front of him.

As Diavolo turned his head, he saw Lucifer desperately struggling for air, the handkerchief pressed tightly onto his mouth.

A big bud with a thick stem and sharp thorns tried to force its way up Lucifer's bronchus. He could feel the thorns ripping open tissue, slowly and painfully as Lucifer did his most to keep it in place.

 _Until Diavolo is gone, I must hold on until then_ , he tried to convince himself.

Torture wasn't something he was unfamiliar with, he was a demon after all., so he kept the handkerchief pressed tightly onto his mouth, refusing to spill over; refusing to let the truth of his affection be on display where it couldn't be denied anymore, for the whole devildom to witness.

A line of blood trickled down the corner of his mouth, leaving red spots on the otherwise pristine handkerchief.

“What are you doing?!” Diavolo shouted as he realized what Lucifer was trying to do. Upon hearing Diavolo's voice Lucifer averted his gaze and turned his head as he suddenly tumbled over.

Diavolo hurried over the bed to his side, straddling his lap as he yanked Lucifer's hands off his mouth, pinning them against the headboard.

“You and that damn pride of yours! You have to let it out,” he growled as he stared into Lucifer's eyes. “You're going to suffocate! You may be a demon but you still need air!”

For a moment Diavolo saw himself reflected in tired, red eyes as they pooled over with tears of exhaustion and Lucifer finally gave in.

He was retching heavily as the bud of a white rose fought its way out of his mouth in agonizing slowness.

Still, Lucifer kept on struggling. The stem had separated from the bud and was stuck in his throat, thick thorns lodged deeply in pink tissue, threatening to suffocate him at any moment.

In a panic, he tapped one of Diavolo's hands with the tips of his fingers. Understanding what he wanted, Diavolo immediately let go of that hand. There was no hesitation, he fully trusted Lucifer to do the right thing.

Now free again, Lucifer reached into his mouth with trembling fingers until they curled around the dislodged stem.

Gasping, he pulled out the deadly stem and a mouthful of blood quickly followed. Some of it spattered onto Diavolo's uniform, blending in with the crimson colour of it. Diavolo let go of Lucifer's other hand.

Desperately, Lucifer took in deep breaths of air, his lungs aching with relief. Subconsciously, he had gripped Diavolo's hand which had been resting on the sheets tightly as he attempted to ground himself.

A few last coughs left his mouth before he slowly sank forward until his head rested against Lord Diavolo's shoulder, admitting momentary defeat.

The room was completely silent except for Lucifer's ragged breaths. Even if he wanted to talk, he was in no place to do so at that moment. His throat felt completely shattered. His mind felt completely shattered. Of course, he felt utterly ashamed to rely on Diavolo like this, felt utterly ashamed over what had just occurred. Most of all, he was ever so _tired_ , so for a short moment, he allowed himself to forget his pride and rest like this; leaning onto Diavolo in complete yet certainly not uncomfortable silence. In secret, as his forehead rested against Diavolo's sturdy shoulder, he breathed in the demon prince's scent.

 _Leather and honey with a hint of smoke_. A scent that was so familiar, yet also so unknown to him.

Lucifer still hadn't let go of Diavolo's hand. He knew this would come back to bite him in the ass once it all was over, but right now he couldn't bring himself to let go. Right now, he needed Diavolo. Being alone was neither an option nor a possibility.

Diavolo squeezed Lucifer's hand in return, letting his fingers roam over his knuckles down to his fingertips, running back up to his wrist, following the traces of his veins.

For once, in this intimate embrace, Lucifer felt comforted by Diavolo's presence. Instead of the straining of his lungs, he felt a strange kind of serenity.

His breathing slowly calmed down and Diavolo slid his other hand up the back of Lucifer's neck before burying it in his hair. Slowly, he let his fingers run through the dark strands as he let himself fall forward as well and leaned against Lucifer's shoulder in return,his fingers still steadily working through Lucifer's hair.

Lucifer could feel his hot skin through the thin fabric of his sleeveless turtleneck and let out a shuddered breath.

“Lucifer,” Diavolo murmured, not lifting his head, “don't ever scare me like that again. I can't lose you, I just can't. I won't let you die just because you love someone. You're too precious. Just too precious. My beautiful Morning Star.”

Too exhausted to argue, Lucifer simply nodded, positive that Diavolo would feel the movement against his shoulder. Finding comfort in the warmth of Diavolo's body, Lucifer's eyelids slowly started to flutter as he felt the much needed heaviness of sleep take over his senses.

“I'm coming in,” Satan said way too late before he opened the door to Lord Diavolo's chambers with way too much force, hoping to get a kick out of Lucifer like that. As he took a step in and observed the scene, Satan quietly evaluated his life choices that had brought him to this moment.

He had come to confront Lucifer with the fact that he had caught hanahaki and had attempted to hide it from everything and everyone, except for perhaps Lord Diavolo. But based on the way they had acted back then with Mammon and Beel, it was quite clear that Lord Diavolo couldn't have known for far too long either.

Satan found himself slightly confused by the situation, since Lord Diavolo himself was quite obviously the cause of Lucifer's illness, so he had come to clear things up so they could make more sense in his head. The state of unnerving confusion was one of the things Satan detested the most and because of this, his urgent need to make Lucifer's life as hard as possible was overpowered by the even bigger need to unlock all of the secrets of the universe.

However, just as he took his first step into the room, he froze in place.

The back of the bed, where the pillows were still stacked up neatly against the headboard, was covered in an unholy amount of blood and in that pool of blood were lying the separated bud of a white rose and a big stem with thick thorns.

In the middle of the bed were none other than Lucifer and Lord Diavolo, both lying on their sides, apparently fast asleep. They were facing each other, Lucifer's face buried in the crook of Diavolo's neck while Diavolo's head rested softly on top of Lucifer's. Most to Satan's surprised, their hands were connected between them, elbows bent slightly to fit in the space between them.

For a moment, Satan just stared in horrid confusion.

“Good grief,” he eventually uttered as he quickly went up to the bed, disposed of the flower bud and stem, covered the blood stains and then pulled a soft blanket over Lucifer and Diavolo's sleeping forms.

Normally, if he had caught Lucifer in such an indicting situation, he would have taken photos and videos to ridicule his oh so picture perfect oldest brother, right now however, that sort of malice had left his mind.

“He's a fool after all,” he muttered as he took one last glance at his older brother and closed the door, “but if he thinks he got away scot free just like that he's completely wrong though.”

As his fingers lingered on the doorknob for a second, a small smile hushed over Satan's face. This was the first time he had ever seen his brother show this much vulnerability. Surprisingly, Satan found himself unable to hate Lucifer just this once.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'ALL i kind of popped off with this one. I think out of all the chapters I've written, this is my favourite one. I kind of just wrote based off my own intuition and whims, but I really love what I did. I wanted to go so drastic towards the end because I couldn't find a way to make Lucifer finally give in without it seeming too ooc for him. In my mind, there had to be something big to really fuck him over to bring him to that point. Also, I seem to be getting my old groove back, this chapter somehow turned out to be a little more than 3k words!  
> It's 6am over here and I pulled an all-nighter to type it up and edit it, but I don't regret anything.  
> Also, I've mentioned in previous chapter notes that I've been drinking a lot of respect Beel juice, that's why I wanted to include him in this chapter. He's precious, that's why. Also bc I am the author and an Asmo simp and no matter how much I'd like to, I can't insert Asm o in each and every scene.  
> Thank you for reading guys! I'm gonna watch an episode of bnha to calm down now.  
> As always you can find me on twitter as @simpingshrimp or on tumblr as @leviathanswingman .  
> Have a nice day and be kind to each other <3


	8. Heavenly Delirium

Lucifer awoke to the barely noticeable scent of honey and smoke. Encased in this calming aroma, he took in a deep breath and let out a sleepy sigh. His body felt warm in that certain kind of way where the warmth started from the pit of his stomach and spread out to every cell of his body.

_What heavenly delirium._

As he adjusted his position lazily, he felt something light, yet fluffy tickle the tip of his nose. Reluctantly, he opened his eyes a smidgen and was greeted by the sight of tan skin pressed against his cheek.

To his own surprise, this didn't alarm him whatsoever. Instead, Lucifer felt at home, encased in a calamity he hadn't felt in a long time. To be honest, he wasn't quite sure if he'd ever felt anything quite like this before.

Bit by bit, he began to regain his senses and memories started coming back to him; fraction after fraction flashing behind his eyes like the ending credits of a movie.

Last night, he'd had the most intense hanahaki attack he'd experienced up to this point, right in front of Lord Diavolo. And despite that, Diavolo had stayed and helped him, had held him through the worst wave of it.

Scratch that. As Lucifer raised his head he realized Diavolo was _still_ holding him, supporting him. Cradling him, he corrected himself as he felt his cheeks warm up a bit.

The unexpected warmth and serenity he was currently feeling after all those stressful days were the only thing holding him back from completely recoiling and setting an appropriate distance between the two of them again.

He'd never known how sacred it could feel to be completely enraptured by another person.

So, still caught up in the afterglow, Lucifer allowed himself a moment of selfishness and blatantly stared at Diavolo's sleeping form that was ever so close to him.

Diavolo was still fast asleep, his hair now messy with parts of it sticking up in strange angles, other parts covering his eyes.

For a moment, Lucifer just stayed like that, lying on his side, watching the slow rise and fall of Diavolo's chest. On Diavolo's face was a content expression.

Eventually, Lucifer found himself staring into space, eyes focussed on nothing particular, lost in thought again.

Right. He shouldn't forget himself, he should know his place. The devil himself knew how insolent Lucifer had acted these past few days.

Diavolo had helped him due to the nature of their relationship and contract. Obviously, he needed his right hand man, so it simply had come natural to him to help out in such a dire situation and there was nothing wrong with that.

Suddenly, Lucifer felt a now familiar sharp pain in his chest and fidgeted a bit to alleviate the stinging.

There it was again. Of course, it had never left to begin with, had only stayed dormant to strike in the most unfitting situations. At this point, Diavolo played such an important part in Lucifer's life, there was no way of simply forgetting all the moments they'd shared ever since his fall from heaven. From Lucifer's reluctant obedience to an eventual camaraderie to an unwavering devotion. After centuries of growth and gained trust between the two of them, there was no way for it to just disappear as if none of it had mattered to begin with.

 _Like your brothers, you're a fool after all_ , Lucifer found himself thinking as he still lay in bed, his and Diavolo's legs entangled.

This couldn't be healthy for him. Still, _something_ made him freeze in place and refused to let him walk away as if nothing had ever happened.

Lucifer fidgeted a bit more as another sharp pain ran through his lungs, and he could feel another petal make its way up his throat; bloody and wet.

Diavolo was still dead asleep. Contrary to popular belief, he was an incredibly heavy sleeper. Once he'd fallen asleep, it was almost impossible to get him to wake up again. On several occasions Lucifer had had to team up with Barbatos and multiple other servants to pull their demon prince out of his bed. Afterwards, he'd always been in the foulest of moods.

Now, upon sensing movement, Diavolo instinctively tightened his grip on Lucifer, pulling him flush against his chest. They were so close, Lucifer could feel soft breaths tingling on his skin and the steady thump thump thumping of Diavolo's heart.

Still, no matter how much he longed for it, Lucifer wasn't meant to be held by these arms. These arms were destined to hold greatness, after all, the devildom's future rested on Diavolo's back.

Just like Atlas had been carrying the world on his shoulders, so Diavolo now carried the devildom on his broad back.

To bring the devildom even further, it would be in his best interest to marry out of political and territorial advantages, this had always been an unspoken truth, which was precisely why Lucifer had always taken a step back when it had been about Lord Diavolo.

In their nature, demons were inherently possessive. If he ever were to allow himself and Diavolo to get even closer Lucifer didn't think he could ever find it within himself to let go again.

He wasn't one to share, not in life and most definitely not in love. What was his was _his only_.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door and once again, Lucifer became too aware of what exactly the situation he was in must look like to an outsider.

After a tumultuous night, him and Diavolo had fallen asleep, Lucifer holding onto Diavolo as if the demon lord was his own lifeline.

To him, the situation was nothing more than that, pure in its intentions, but what it would look like to the visitor waiting patiently for permission to enter, he couldn't fathom.

Then, the door opened. Lucifer had two choices: he could either hide his face in the crook of Diavolo's neck, hoping to stay anonymous or he could face the visitor, bold and unapologetic.

“Lord Diavolo?” the voice rang through the room, accompanied by the creaking of the door.

Out of instinct, Lucifer lifted his head.

Barbatos, holding a candelabra, stopped in his tracks, observed the scene right in front of him.

He had entered Lord Diavolo's chambers to wake him up since they still had much to discuss about the upcoming party.

Yet as he entered the room after precisely two knocks, as usual, expecting to find his lord dormant, stubbornly asleep, he was in for a surprise.

Barbatos scanned the room and laid his eyes on an unusual sight. Lord Diavolo was sleeping in his bed alright, but unexpectedly, he was joined by another person.

The other person in question was none other than Lucifer himself. Diavolo and Lucifer were tangled up with each other, Lord Diavolo holding onto Lucifer for dear life, holding tightly onto his right hand man. Lucifer himself had his hands hooked in Diavolo's hair, lazily combing through the messy locks. It looked too intimate for Barbatos to be here.

He was about to leave as he caught Lucifer's eye. So he was awake after all.

“ Oh, well this is unexpected,” Barbatos said, fixing Lucifer with his gaze.

There was an undeniable red tint to Lucifer's cheeks as he stared back at Barbatos.

Lucifer scoffed and Diavolo pulled him even closer. “Is there anything you wanted?” Lucifer asked, reluctantly embarrassed.

“I just came here to wake up Lord Diavolo, but seeing the situation you're in I don't think there's much need for that,” Barbatos answered smoothly. “If I didn't know better I'd thought you'd finally told him the truth.”

“Stop fooling around. We both know I could never do that. I would never tamper with his success like that.”

Barbatos simply stared at them for a moment. Diavolo, fast asleep, holding onto Lucifer as tightly as he could; Lucifer propping himself up on one arm, still in Diavolo's arms.

“You're tiresome. How come you're usually so smart, yet as soon as Lord Diavolo enters the picture you drop any kind of rationality? How do you not see it?” Barbatos asked, holding eye contact with Lucifer.

“I don't know what you could possibly be referring to. We both know Lord Diavolo will eventually have to get married for political reasons. I'm not enough of a masochist to get what I want to just have it torn away from me moments later. Staying his loyal subject is the only option with no repercussions,” Lucifer growled, not caring about keeping his voice down. Here was no way Diavolo would wake up this easily.

Barbatos fixed the two figures on the bed with an icy gaze.

“And how has that been working out for you? I'm as much Lord Diavolo's loyal servant as you are, yet I can't recall having shared a bed with him like you are at the moment. I don't think there was a clause concerning sleeping together in a way only lovers would do in my contract.” Barbatos cleared his throat and turned away, facing the door. “ I need you to do your job and help with preparations for the party. I know he,” he waved in Diavolo's direction, “ wouldn't care. If it was up to him he'd want to keep you in here forever, but I can't handle all of the workload by myself.”

Diavolo's hand suddenly clenched around the fabric of Lucifer's shirt.

Was he possibly awake?

Lucifer's eyes darted upwards for a moment, but Diavolo still seemed to be sleeping like a baby.

Lucifer let out a deep breath and felt a petal flutter past his lips, landing on Diavolo's face. The demon prince scrunched up his nose in irritation for a second.

Barbatos opened the door and without turning around he said, “that's certainly a new one. Get back to work, Lucifer. Oh, and when Lord Diavolo awakes tell him to come see me. That's all.” With that, he left the room and quietly closed the door behind him.

Barbatos was one man that shouldn't be underestimated.

Concerned by Barbatos' last comment, Lucifer quietly glanced down at the petal that was now resting on Diavolo's cheek. It wasn't one of the white rose petals Lucifer had gotten used to. Resting on Diavolo's cheek was the petal of a blue rose.

The petals had changed. This couldn't mean much good. Only in the worst cases of hanahaki a person would end up developing different flowers for one specific person.

Quickly, Lucifer slid his hand across the bed, searching for his DDD, quite sure that he'd left it somewhere on the bed. As soon as he found it he googled the meaning of blue rose petals.

According to the internet, the represented the impossible or the unattainable.

Lucifer snorted due to the irony of his whole situation. It couldn't get any worse than this.

Then, he looked back at Diavolo's sleeping form and was met with golden eyes mustering him seriously.

How long had he been awake for?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Think of this chapter as the second book in a trilogy bc that's what it feels like to me. It's necessary and not bad, but most of all there to keep the plot going. Listen here, I just really like Lucifer to relax for once, een if it's after a life-threatening hanahaki attack. And even though I'm not the biggest Barbatos stan (i find him intriguing but that's it) I felt like it was vital to include him. In my opinion, he's the only character who could walk in on such an unexpected scene and still stay rational and calm.  
> I most definitely appreciate criticism, kudos and comments, totally foorgot to say that last time!  
> If you want to visit me on social media you can find me under @simpingshrimp on twitter or under either @leviathanswingman or @personaldisastergay on tumblr.  
> Hope y'all are having a great day! Whathever you might be going through right now, never forget that you're worth all the help you can get <3


	9. Intervening

Diavolo fixed Lucifer with an intense stare. He still hadn't eased up on his death hold, so Lucifer and him were only mere inches apart from each other.

Oh, this was dangerous.

Lucifer was the first to avert his gaze and instead focused on the swirly pattern of the wallpaper to calm his breathing and collect himself again. „How long have you been awake for?“ he asked, dreading the worst. „If that was all it took to wake you up, I've clearly been doing the wrong thing for decades.“

Diavolo scoffed. „So that's how it's going to be.“

He released his grip on Lucifer's body to cradle his face instead, rough hands on surprisingly soft cheeks, forcing him to look into his eyes again.

„For how long do you think you can keep up this charade? You are dying,“ he said. Despite himself, Diavolo had lost all willingness to keep up a playful front. He was dead serious now and his eyebrows were furrowed in confusion. There was a certain expression on his face, it was almost as if he were searching for the last piece of the puzzle that would finally make him understand Lucifer's uncharacteristic defiance. Perhaps he would find it if he studied Lucifer's face long enough.

„I'll live just fine,“ Lucifer grumbled in response, his face as stoic as usual.

“How? Out of nothing but spite? Not even you can do that. Hell, not even I would be able to do that!” Diavolo growled. “It's not worth it if it means losing you. Confess already and move on, I need you. Your brothers need you.”

For a split second an undeniable look of hurt slipped through the cracks of Lucifer's otherwise indestructible poker face. He shook off Diavolo's hands, took hold of the bloodied handkerchief that had still been lying on the bed, and sat up, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed. Holding the handkerchief to his mouth once again, he coughed six blue petals into it before letting it disappear in the pocket of his pants.

He threw Diavolo one last, indecipherable look. “Of course, my lord. I'll make sure to eradicate these pesky feelings. Thank you for your hospitality and also, excuse me for the inconvenience I've caused you,” he stated coldly as he slipped on his dress shoes, distinctly avoiding Diavolo's gaze.

At this point Diavolo had sat up on his bed, watching Lucifer in confusion.

Had he said something he shouldn't have said? All he'd wanted to do was help Lucifer get back to his old, unbothered self.

If there was one thing Diavolo couldn't stand for certain then it was seeing his beloved Lucifer in this much pain. It cost him all of his strength to remain in place when his brain yelled at him to go on a one man mission through the whole country to weed out the one person who had managed to do the unthinkable; to find that one person who had managed to steal Lucifer's heart, a feat Diavolo himself had attempted uncountable times, but had failed at over and over again, no matter how hard he tried.

Certain things just couldn't be earned through persistence after all. After all, there was a thin line to be walked between pursuing the object of your admiration and obsessing over them, so Diavolo had resigned himself to a purely professional connection between him and Lucifer. He had resigned himself to courteous nods, secret glances, shoulders brushing in the heat of war.

Lucifer smoothed down his clothes before turning towards the door. With one last look at Diavolo, he pressed down the handle.

“Barbatos wanted to talk to you about business. But you heard him, so there's no need for me to tell you twice.” The door slammed closed.

Seconds passed as Diavolo simply stared at the door.

Something felt off, yet he couldn't tell what had gone wrong. Even as he thought about it intensely and thoroughly, he didn't know what he'd done wrong. Still, Diavolo couldn't shake the feeling that something had gone awfully awry.

Perhaps it was really time for him to go and see Barbatos.

Lucifer walked down the hallway in a hurried pace.

He had been an utter fool. Of course, Diavolo would have overheard his conversation with Barbatos.

Of course, Barbatos had never explicitly stated that Lucifer was in love with Diavolo, yet even a stranger could have been able to gather all of the evidence that had been dropped in that conversation and figured out that Lucifer was undeniably in love with Diavolo.

Though he often had his dense moments, Diavolo certainly wasn't dumb. Actually, the demon prince was incredibly intelligent, scarily so. There was no way he hadn't it all figured out. Perhaps he had known all along.

To say he had been rejected was much easier than the actual truth. Not only had Lucifer been rejected, he had also harshly been told to just move on.

His lungs weighed heavily under that truth, spores and roots choking him considerably more violently than before.

Akin to the way a mortician would tend to a new body, Lucifer made his way to the next bathroom he could find, checking if he could feel any other demons nearby, then locking himself in the next best bathroom stall before leaning down to the toilet, one hand placed on the stall's wall to steady himself; a routine. Roses, white and blue in an unholy union, _loyalty_ and _the one thing he could never have_ , pouring down the pipes.

Lucifer used a wad of toilet paper to clean up the trail of saliva and blood that had dripped down his chin, almost sullying his clothes.

For a few more moments he stared at the rose petals that were almost clogging up the pipes. Lucifer mustered the blue-white mess, his chest void of any kind of emotion.

They were almost taunting him.

A certain sort of numbness crawled through his bones and suddenly, Lucifer smashed the hand that'd been holding him up harshly against the stall. With a loud cracking noise the wall gave in, shaking violently as bits and pieces dropped to the ground, leaving a huge hole behind.

A loud shriek emerged from the neighbouring stall Lucifer had just punched a hole into. As he looked through it, at first he couldn't make out anything that could've caused that ear-piercing sound.

Annoyed, Lucifer stuck his head through the hole and looked around more carefully, peering down.

Below the hole cowered one of his brothers, shielding his head with both of his arms before reluctantly looking up.

“Levi.”

Leviathan stared at his older brother for a moment, his big orange eyes never wavering.

That calculating gaze of his made Lucifer shiver. He felt like his brother could see right through him.

“I- is there anything you wanted from me, Lucifer?” Levi eventually asked, sweat pearling down his temple. He removed his hands from the top of his head and used them to prop himself off the ground instead. Quickly, he tried to dust off his pants but failed miserably in doing so, and then took a few steps back to lean against the wall opposite the hole.

“Why would I seek you out so I could talk to you through bathroom stalls?” Lucifer asked quizzically as he leaned against the wall as well, resting one arm lazily on the frayed edges of the newly formed hole. He could already feel a migraine coming on.

Levi cleared his throat. “Well, in the graphic novel 'My heart keep racing whenever I look at you but we are childhood friends who are cursed to stay five feet apart from each other so I couldn't possibly love you!' the main character and his best friend always meet up in the bathroom during their lunch break so they could discuss their-”

Lucifer interrupted him before he could find himself stuck with one of Levi's infamous rants.

“Leviathan.”

The demon in question quickly stopped talking. Hearing Lucifer use his full name never promised much good. ”Y-yeah?” he asked, but then remembered the exact situation he had gotten himself into. A situation so peculiar that it almost reeked of dramatic potential. For a moment, he mustered his surroundings in confusion. Right, there was a hole in the wall of the bathroom stall.

“There's a hole in the wall,” he mumbled, trying to suppress the unyielding urge to play detective. He raised his head again and looked at his brother. Based on the evidence he had gathered, there was only one conclusion to this mystery. “There's a considerably big hole in the wall, the only suspects in this case are me and Lucifer. There's no way I'm the perpetrator, except if you consider the possibility of an unreliable narrator, which I don't think I am, so there's only one possibility left,” Levi mumbled as he pointed at Lucifer. “You're the only one!”

Lucifer stared at him blankly, unblinkingly. “Get out of here,” he simply stated. He was in no way in the mood to deal with his hikkikomori brother's shenanigans. Truthfully, he was rarely in the mood to deal with Levi's obsessive otaku ramblings.

Levi took a small step towards the hole and stuck his neck around the corner, spying past Lucifer.

“What's that?” he asked, pointing towards the toilet overflowing with petals and rose buds. “Huh?”

His eyes dashed from the toilet to Lucifer and back again, travelling back and forth over and over again. “Huh? Huh huh huh? HUH?!”

All of a sudden, Lucifer slammed his hand flat against the stall and put his head through the hole he had created minutes prior. “You didn't see anything. If you did, I will not hesitate to burn your whole Ruri-chan collection to a crisp,” he threatened, his eyes gleaming dangerously in the sub-par bathroom lighting.

With a loud bang Levi hit the back of the stall as he had taken several steps back in fear. He clenched his shirt and panted heavily. “You wouldn't!” he exclaimed, eyes desperate.

Instead of giving an answer Lucifer simply stared at him, a deranged smile slowly starting to spread over his face. “Oh?”

“You're smiling. Why are you smiling like that, this isn't good. Don't look at me like that, Lucifer! Please spare my Ruri-chan collection, she's the only thing that's worth living for! You wouldn't want to be the reason for your little brother's suicide now, would you-”

Lucifer grabbed the edges of the hole with both of his hands. “Stop it. Come here,” he growled, staring at his brother intensely.

Levi didn't move one bit.

“Come. Here. “

Reluctantly, Levi approached his brother who mustered him with a deadly glare. Before he could say anything, Lucifer sighed. “Don't talk like that, Levi. We've been through this, your presence at RAD is important and needed. Don't talk yourself down like that. You are my sibling and the third oldest of us all, take pride in that.” He reached through the hole and put his hand on his brothers shoulder. All in all, it was a peculiar and somewhat awkward situation. Neither of them knew how to react.

Finally, Lucifer pulled back and massaged his temples. “Now leave. I'm busy with preparations. Tell the others that it would be to their best interest if they managed to stay out of my way for once.”

“Ah, yes, sure, ” Levi mumbled as he left the bathroom stall. After having washed his hands, he made his way towards the music room.

Taken aback, by Lucifer's sudden kindness, he had almost forgotten what he had left his room for to begin with.

“There you are,” Barbatos said as the door opened and Levi entered the music room. All of his brothers except for Lucifer were already there and evidently, he was the last one to join them. He plopped down on the couch next to Satan.

Then, the doors opened once again and Diavolo entered the room.

“Lord Diavolo,” Barbatos started as he caught sight of the demon prince.

“What does this mean, explain yourself.”

Barbatos locked eyes with Asmodeus for a short moment as they both nodded.

“Lord Diavolo, this is an intervention.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I literally first forgot to add my chapter notes at the end wow that's a new low even for me. It feels weird to just say nothing at the end.   
> Anyway, at first I had a few problems writing this chapter bc i couldn't decide in what direction I wanted to go with it which frustrated me immensely.   
> Also I've had a bunch of really bad mental health days and because of that my creative energy was at an all time low.  
> I'm doing much better again though.  
> I really really wanted to include Levi because he is precious and i love him, thus this weird ass scene was created. As i wrote it i couldn't stop thinking about the "here's johnny!" scene oop. Poor Levi.  
> As always, this is basically part 9 of Lucifer cannot catch a break and Diavolo is blissfully unaware.  
> I think that's all I wanted to say. Have a nice day my guys, gals and pals😌✌🏻  
> As always, you can visit me on tumblr @leviathanswingman or on twitter @simpingshrimp .  
> Comments, criticism and kudos are highly appreciated!


	10. The Intervention

„Lord Diavolo, this is an intervention.“

The words were echoing through the music room as everyone kept quiet for several moments.

Then, Diavolo crossed his arms in front of his chest and tilted his head. „An intervention, you say? You should have told me beforehand, I would have prepared a bit more. Who is it for?“

Satan stared at the demon prince intensely. „You have got to be kidding me,“ he murmured as he turned around to Yuuta, who was sitting next to him on the couch. „It's useless, they're both complete idiots.“ He shook his head in disbelief and Yuuta shrugged his shoulders in defeat.

Barbatos shushed them with a vague hand gesture as he approached Diavolo.

„Which is exactly why we are forced to do this,“ he added to Satan's statement. He pushed his pointer a little too hard for comfort against Diavolo's chest as he invaded his space. „We're doing this for both your and Lucifer's sake, since neither of you seem reasonable enough to put an end to this nonsense. This intervention today is for you, my lord.“

Diavolo stared at him and blinked in confusion. „Oh? And what exactly would this be about? Did I do anything that would warrant an intervention?“

Belphegor, leaning against Beelzebub's shoulder, yawned. „It's about the obvious boner you have for Luci-“ he drawled lazily, yet loud enough for the whole room to hear before Beel quickly slapped his hand over Belphie's mouth.

„Belphie!“

Belphegor pulled his brother's hand away from his mouth. „What, I'm just saying what everyone was thinking.“

Asmodeus grinned as he watched his younger brothers. „I couldn't have said it better myself!“

Mammon smacked the back of Asmo's head. „Oi, stop playing around!“

„Ow! I didn't do anything! You could've ruined my beautiful hair, you could've given me a concussion with that! Do you really want to see your cute baby brother dead so badly, you brute?!“

„Guys, now is not the time. As much as I hate to say it, we're here to help that bastard Lucifer,“ Yuuta chimed in.

Diavolo watched their conversation with cautious eyes. „You all know,“ he said, more of a statement rather than a question.

All eight pairs of eyes went straight back to Diavolo.

Asmo's head snapped back to Barbatos. „He knows?!“ he cried in disbelief.

„Yes, he knows. I caught him and Lucifer, as you would put it, in flagrante.“

„You did what?!“

„Ya caught them doing what?! Didn't think Lord Diavolo had game like that. I mean, to seduce Lucifer of all people, ya gotta have some damn good skills.“

Diavolo raised his hands in defence. „I might not know what you're trying to suggest with 'in flagrante', but I get the feeling that there's a big misunderstanding here. It is true though that I am aware of Lucifer's hanahaki. I was with him when he suddenly collapsed and started to vomit flowers. I was really worried so I carried him to my private chambers and tended to his needs.“

Levi's eyes shot up and he twiddled with the zipper of his hoodie as he approached Lord Diavolo. „I've watched a lot of anime about the hanahaki disease, so I guess you could say I'm somewhat of an expert in that department. So _you_ were with him when it happened? Are you sure about that? I mean you could be making a mistake. Are you 100- no, are you 1000% positive about that?“ he urged, his words picking up in both pace and volume the more he talked.

Mammon, straddling a chair as he had his arms crossed over the backrest, shook his head. „Whaddaya mean 'are ya sure'? How can ya not be sure of something like that. Ya wanna get popped too, Levi?“

“I'm asking if he was the only one present when it happened, you moron!” Levi now mustered Lord Diavolo more intensely. “No matter what I've read or watched about hanahaki, the person present during most of the attacks generally turned out to most likely be the cause for the disease,” he muttered and leaned a bit closer towards Diavolo. “It doesn't seem too impossible if you really think about it, right?”

Mammon stood up and walked over to his brother, plopping down on the couch next to him, bent over with his forearms resting on his thighs.

“Are ya implying what I think ya are? Lucifer has that damn disease because of Lord Diavolo? It's Lucifer we're talking about! Lucifer! I can't even wrap my head around the idea of him having any lovey dovey feelings for anyone to begin with!”

“Precisely. Which is why this is the only plausible conclusion, right Barbatos?” Satan questioned.

With that, Beel walked over to Diavolo and placed his hands on his shoulders, gently pushing him down onto another chair. “Maybe it's better if you sit down for this.”

Diavolo didn't protest and simply sat down, interlocking his hands as he let his elbows rest on the arm leans, a now thoughtful expression on his face. For a moment, he was quiet before turning around to Barbatos.

“I see your concern,” he started, “but I am not the solution to this problem. I want to help Lucifer just as much as every single one of you do, but even I can't just save him like that.” His eyes darkened considerably as he redirected his gaze to the ground. “No matter how much I want to,” he mumbled, barely audible.

Barbatos crossed his arms as he took in the sorry sight of his sulking lord. A sigh escaped his lips. “You are not listening, my lord. There is quite literally no other person who would come even remotely close to being a possible suspect. I found out about Lucifer's disease even before you did. It was the night of our return to RAD, right after Lucifer welcomed us back.” As he continued talking he slowly made his way towards Diavolo's chair. “Don't you remember his strange behaviour? The way he had suddenly disappeared?”

“Well-”

“Excuse my rude interruption, but I will fill you in as to what happened. I followed him and caught him as he had a severe hanahaki attack and lost consciousness. I confronted him after he woke up again. Although I will not reveal what exactly it was that Lucifer told me, I can say as much: I was very blunt with him and he did not deny anything I accused him of. Yet also, he once again proved to be incredibly stubborn. I urged him to confess to that person, but he vehemently refused to do so.”

Diavolo sighed as he rubbed his temples. “Him and that stupid pride of his. Why didn't he say anything? If I hadn't caught him that day, I would still be none the wiser now.”

Now Asmodeus chimed in as well. “I also tried to give him advice, but all he did was rudely choke me and then later throw a flower pot after me. Point taken, I did overdo it and teased him a bit too much, but now that I think of it, he didn't correct any of my assumptions either, did he, Yuuta?”

For a moment Yuuta kept quiet as he went back to their conversation in Lucifer's study. “Yeah, he threw you around like a rag doll and yelled at us to mind our own business, but he didn't say anything else. He definitely didn't deny anything.”

Asmodeus sighed as he threw his arms around Yuuta. “And I thought him and Diavolo had already talked it out! Lord Diavolo, after you asked little old me to call Lucifer to distract him I was so certain that everything would be alright and we'd have another power couple at RAD soon! Is romance really dead nowadays?” he sulked and Yuuta petted his head.

“Speaking of,” Satan added, “when I came to talk to him, I saw a peculiar thing. I expected him to be alone but when I opened the door, I walked in on him and Diavolo sleeping together in the same bed. This really doesn't help your case now, does it Diavolo?”

The whole room filled with murmurs.

“Asleep in the same bed?? How dirty! I really didn't take you for the casanova type, Lord Diavolo!”

“Asmo, now is not the-”

Levi quickly sprung up. “I just saw him in the bathroom! For some reason he had punched a hole in the stall wall, which really reminded me of 'My heart keeps racing whenever I look at you but we are childhood friends who are cursed to stay five feet apart from each other so I couldn't possibly love you', which is a-”

Voices kept overlapping until the room was filled with a crescendo of chaos. Diavolo still sat on his chair, troubled, as the demon brothers came up with instance after instance, irrefutable evidence filling his ears bit by bit, instance after instance.

“Jesus fuck, y'all make me want to take up smoking again,” Yuuta muttered as he threw an annoyed gaze at Barbatos. “Was this really a good idea?”

For the shortest of moments Barbatos was wondering the same thing. After all, Lucifer had been this secretive to not get anyone else involved, especially not his brothers.

Then, Barbatos remembered his plan, any former doubt crushed again.

“Do not fret, everything is going according to plan,” he told Yuuta confidently.

As Lucifer's brothers were still talking over each other, Barbatos rounded the chair and faced Diavolo. “My Lord, is this finally enough proof to you?”

Finally, Diavolo lifted his head and faced Barbatos, the expression on his face unreadable. After a short moment he sighed, running his hands over his thighs in an agitated fashion.

“ **Silence!** ” his voice suddenly boomed and everyone went quiet. He stood up and started to pace the room. “I know Lucifer does not love me. I have known for a long time,” he growled. There was no use hiding his feelings anymore, after all, they had never been much of a secret to begin with.

“But-” Levi began to butt in, but was quickly shushed by Barbatos.

Diavolo continued. “As I said before, I am aware of the difference between my love for Lucifer and his devotion to me. I respect your brother, which is why I am content with the loyalty he gives me.” He stopped in his tracks and turned around to Lucifer's brothers again. “But I see your concern and I see the points you've made, which is why I will humour you this once. After all, we all have the same goal. We all want to see Lucifer get better.” He clenched his fists. “Still, I am not the culprit you are looking for. Whatever it takes, I will find them and make them take responsibility. Even if it means giving Lucifer away to someone who clearly doesn't deserve him.” _Even if it means losing a little part of him_ , Diavolo added in his thoughts. He unclenched his fists and let out a deep breath. “Leave me alone now, I need to think.”

One after another, the brothers left, stunned by Diavolo's sudden outburst. They could still feel the pressure of Diavolo's undeniable power lingering in the air.

Eventually, everyone except for Barbatos and Diavolo had left. Quietly, Diavolo pulled on Barbatos' sleeve, trying to catch his attention.

“Yes, my lord?”

“How much time do we have left? To sort this out, I mean?” he asked and Barbatos watched him carefully. He hadn't witnessed Lord Diavolo this upset in a long time. Although outwardly, the demon prince still looked rather collected, inwardly, he was clearly upset and worried. For a moment, Barbatos saw the child in him again, saw the boy he used to tend after in an empty, lonely palace, saw a boy eagerly waiting for the return of a father who had left, only to be disappointed over and over again. That boy who used to cover his pain with boisterous laughter and bright expressions was standing before him again, just as he had been back then.

Barbatos smiled sadly. “You have three days at most. I would recommend you talk to him after the celebration as he is quite busy now. Three days are the most I can give you. I have always been one to be frank with you, Lord Diavolo. He will not make it to day four.”

Diavolo let go of Barbatos' sleeve and straightened his posture, a certain sadness in his eyes. “Thank you. I'm glad I can always count on you, Barbatos.”

“Of course, my lord.”

With that, Diavolo left the music room, making his way towards his chambers, lost in thought. Memories of Lucifer flashed through his mind, unwavering and unforgiving.

The first time they met, the undeniable pull he had felt towards him the moment those deep red eyes had focused on only him, a disgusted expression sullying Lucifer's angelic features. He had looked so different back then. Clad in white, baby blue and gold, dark locks framing his face, falling down his back, down his back to where innocent white, magnificent wings were softly swaying with the breeze.

Then there was the time after Lucifer's fall from heaven. Barbatos and him had gathered Lucifer up, had picked up all the angry pieces, offering a deal. It was a deal Lucifer had taken with such fury and passion, a deal Lucifer had made with such pride. Under Lucifer's bitter gaze, Diavolo had known, he was in trouble.

And oh, in how much trouble he was now.

No matter what it would take, no matter how much it would hurt him, Diavolo was fully committed to saving Lucifer. After all, he was his one and only, his perfect morning star.

_His Lucifer._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whooo hi kids! This was a weird one to write. On one hand I had so much fun bc I could finally have all of the brothers in one room, which just promises chaos, but on the other hand, it was really hard not to get distracted. There were so many characters and so many different options. I really was struggling, wasn't I? And for some reason, I just had to add some flavour and add a bit of daddy issues for Diavolo at the end. On the other hand, I feel like every single obey me character has daddy issues. Welcome to another episode of am I just projecting or is it really like that?   
> As always, you can find me on tumblr @leviathanswingman or on twitter @simpingshrimp.  
> Thank you for reading this dumpster fire of a fanfic, y'all make my day! Comments, kudos and criticism are always appreciated. Hope y'all have a nice day!


	11. Realization

Even though they had just been ushered out of the music room, the demon brothers and Yuuta didn't part ways. Instead, they all remained in front of the closed door, unsure of what to do. There was an uneasy ambiance in the air as they looked at each other, stupefied.

„What just happened?“ Beel finally asked, breaking the silence.

„Lucifer has somehow gotten himself hanahaki, that's what happened,“ Yuuta answered as he stretched his shoulders. „I don't get why we had to have a whole ass meeting just to clarify that. Didn't most of us already know?“

„Well, I didn't know!“ Mammon threw in.

„That's because you are an idiot.“ Asmodeus pretentiously studied his nails as he insulted his older brother. „Not that that's something new.“

„Oi!“

„Hey, stop bullying him for once, Asmo,“ Beel murmured as he shot a quick smile at Mammon. „Lucifer probably didn't want us to worry. Also, it's not like there's much to worry about. He hasn't been sick for more than a week.“

Belphegor leaned lazily against the wall as he scrolled through the hanahaki devilpedia page. „It says here that most cases start getting bad after like a month. So why worry now?“

All of a sudden, Satan shushed them and pointed at the door. Confused, the others redirected their attention to the door. Yuuta tilted his head in silent question as Satan moved closer to the door, putting his ear against it.

„Wha-“

„SHHH!“ Satan threw them a dirty look before turning back to the door. The others simply watched him, not knowing what to do. After several moments had passed, Satan quickly jumped away from the door, just in time to not get hit.

Lord Diavolo rushed out of the room, so lost in thought that he didn't even acknowledge the demons right in front of his nose. He brushed past them and made his way down the hallway.

„What was that about?“

Satan turned back around to Yuuta and his siblings. „I think I know exactly what that was about. Let's go somewhere where we can have more privacy first though. Who knows who could be listening.“

Neither of his brothers knew what Satan was talking about, but seeing the calm yet serious look on their brother's face, they chose to obey. Usually, their brother loved his alone time and after any of their meetings would have immediately went back to the library to find new books. Today was inherently different though, and they could clearly tell. Satan was dead serious.

Beel was the first one to speak up. „Hmh. Let's go then.“

„Why do we always have to end up in my room?“ Yuuta groaned as he let himself fall onto his bed, the only empty space left in the now cramped room. „Seven people are really pushing it, don't you think?“

„It'll have to do. Now stop being grumpy for a moment and listen. All of you.“ Satan sat down on the desk chair and crossed his legs. „Right from the beginning, this whole situation seemed suspicious to me, something felt off.“

Beel, who sat crossed legged on the floor, raised his hand before talking. „What do you mean something felt off?“

„I think I need to clarify. The information I have gathered isn't adding up with what I'm seeing. It doesn't make sense. Allegedly, Lucifer has had hanahaki's for not much longer than a week. His physical state however, doesn't support that statement whatsoever. As I said before, the last time I tried to confront him I accidentally ran into him and Diavolo sleeping in the same bed together.“

“Which I don't even want to think about,” Belphie threw in before he threw himself onto the bed as well, yawning. Almost immediately, Yuuta put a healthy distance between them as he eyed Belphegor somewhat suspiciously.

“Fair, but not the point. What's your point, Satan?” he asked.

Satan uncrossed his legs and fixed his brothers with an intense gaze. “For reasons you don't need to know I walked over to them when they were still asleep. I didn't think much of it before, but now it makes all the more sense. Diavolo told us he'd helped Lucifer through a bad hanahaki attack, but there were no petals on the bed when I was there, however there was blood on the pillows.”

“Whaddaya mean? Yer trying to say Diavolo lied to us?” Mammon asked as he sat down next to Beel.

“No, I'm not saying that. Actually, I found a whole flower on the bed, including stems and roots.”

Levi's head shot up and he stared at Satan for a moment, eyes big and shocked. “That can't be true! He shouldn't be this far along! Isn't that way too quickly?!”

“Exactly. This led me to the conclusion that Barbatos was hiding something from us. So when I eavesdropped after they kicked us out I heard something very peculiar.” Satan stood up again and rubbed his temples, already feeling a migraine coming on. “Barbatos told Diavolo that Lucifer had only three days left.”

Everyone looked at Satan in startled silence.

“Oh no. No, no, no. Hell no!” Levi exclaimed as realization dawned upon him. “When I saw him in the bathroom the toilet was also filled with both petals and full flowers. Is this why? This can't be it! This shouldn't be it! Why is it moving so fast?!” His head whipped around to Satan. “Why is it moving so **fast**?!”

“According to Devilpedia, there are rare atypical cases where the disease proceeds faster than usual,” Belphie mumbled as he scanned the site on his DDD. “No way,” he suddenly exclaimed as his eyes shifted from left to right, taking in the information they all needed at the moment. “In the worst case recorded the victim died within two weeks.”

After a moment of silence, the cramped room filled with panicked chatter.

“T-two weeks?!” Levi sank down on the bed inbetween Belphie and Yuuta as he put his head in his hands in desperation. “What are we going to do without Lucifer?”

Asmodeus shook his head, a sad expression on his face. “Is he trying to break the record for quickest hanahaki fatality?” He laughed bitterly. “Of course he would deny love like that. That's Lucifer for you. Ever so stubborn.” For a moment, he let his mind run free, hoping to find a solution in the panicked flurry of his thoughts. Then, realization set in. “Lucifer won't confess. He won't confess because it's Lord Diavolo he would have to confess to.”

Without any hesitation, he ran over to Satan, grabbing onto his shoulders and shaking him a bit too violently. “You know he won't. Lucifer is too proud and too much of an idiot to jeopardize his relationship to Lord Diavolo this easily. We have to do something about this!”

Gently, Satan grabbed Asmodeus' hands and removed them from his shoulders. “Yes, we definitely have to interfere. Although I would love to see Lucifer suffer, this is not the way to go for him. I want to be personally responsible for his anguish. So I can't allow this to happen.”

“Yeah sure, daddy's boy...” Yuuta threw in from the bed. Satan bolted towards him, ready to throw hands, but stopped when Yuuta raised one finger. “But I have to agree. He needs a good kick in the ass to get the stone rolling. He'll hate every second of it, so we have to be real careful so he won't find out.”

“We have to find a way,” Beel mumbled, his expression worried and his frame tense.

“We will find a way,” Mammon and Satan said in unison, followed by a second of stunned silence as they stared at each other.

“Let me think about it. I'll text you the details once I've come up with a sound plan,” Satan eventually concluded, a determined expression on his face as he already pulled out his notepad. Scribbling down note after note, he waved with one hand as he hurriedly exited the room. It was now his turn to save the demon he had always felt inferior to. It was now his turn to save the demon who, whether he liked it or not, was the sole reason for Satan's existence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uhmmm did I just update less than 24 hours after my last update? I think so oml. It's currently 6am and I pulled an allnighter for this. My sleep schedule really said aight imma head out. I promise y'all, Lucifer will return in the next chapter, but those two last chapters without him were really needed. Fuck knows he needed a break.  
>  If evrything goes according to plan this fanfic will be finished in either two or three chapters and I don't know what to think about it. I already know I'll miss it.   
> As always, you can find me on tumblr @leviathanswingman or on twitter @simpingshrimp (I'm much more active on tumblr tho).  
> Thanks for reading, comments, kudos and criticism are always appreciated! Hope y'all had a good night's sleep <3


	12. Actions Speak Louder Than Words

Lucifer was sitting in his study, stacks of paperwork on his desk in front of him. He was meticulously working, going through paper after paper. The big celebration was in a day and he still had a lot of catching up to do. After having pulled another all-nighter, he had almost finished all of his tasks. Next to him was a trash bin, filled to the brim with white and blue rose petals, a few single buds mixed in with stems and thorns.

Exhausted, he allowed himself to rest for a moment. In front of of him were a cup of coffee Barbatos had brought over and an untouched slice of apple pie which Beelzebub had unceremoniously dumped in front of him. Lucifer took a big gulp of coffee and leaned back in his chair, letting out a deep sigh. The warm coffee felt like medicine to his sore throat.

As he closed his eyes and took in a deep breath of the rich scent of roasted beans, suddenly, the doors burst open and Asmodeus barged into the room.

Surprised, Lucifer almost threw the cup of coffee over his shoulder. Quickly, he kicked the overflowing trash bin under the desk, almost making it tip over in the process. It swayed dangerously before finally coming to a halt.

„Asmodeus!“ he growled as he got up from his chair. „How many times have I told you to knock? Looking at your behaviour one could assume you'd been raised by apes. I suppose you must have a fairly good reason as to why you have disobeyed my rules _once again_.“

Asmo smiled at him recklessly. „Oh, I do! I'm on the most important of missions!“ he exclaimed as he crossed the room and walked around the table with a spring in his step. Elegantly, he then sat down on top of Lucifer's mahogany desk, one leg crossed over the other.

„If you don't want me to cancel all of your beauty subscriptions, you better speak up. **Now**.“

“Oh come one, Lucifer. You wouldn't do that!”

Lucifer held eye contact with his brother as he picked up his DDD and dialled a number. “Good evening, is this-”

“No!” Asmodeus yelled as he grabbed Lucifer's DDD and threw it out the window. From far away they could hear a distant thud, followed by an angry yell. “OW! If I find out who threw that DDD, I swear to fuck-”

“Sorry Satan!!”

Then, there was the sound of a garbage can getting kicked out of its socket and Asmodeus shrugged nonchalantly.

For a moment, Lucifer simply stared at his brother. Normally, now would be the perfect time to punish Asmodeus, make him learn from his mistakes and most of all, make him refrain from overstepping his boundaries ever again. However, Lucifer was extremely tired. The last two days he had worked tirelessly, attempting to make up for the time he had spent in Lord Diavolo's chambers. Adding to the exhaustion that came from his overworked mind, Lucifer was also suffering under the fits of hanahaki that had gotten progressively worse over the last two days. The only blessing that had emerged out of this situation was the fact that his enormous workload was effectively keeping him apart from Diavolo.

With Lucifer holed up in his study and Lord Diavolo busy preparing for his guests, there was no time left to mull over that pesky disease. Everything was working completely in Lucifer's favour.

“Are you trying to sign your death warrant?”

“Not actively, no,” Asmo answered, tilting his head playfully.

“Oh, really? I can make that happen, you are aware of that?” Lucifer threatened half-heartedly. It took much energy being threatening and angry, energy he definitely couldn't spare at the moment. He just had to make it through the celebration, both literally and figuratively.

Lucifer was most aware of the fact that he did not have much time left. Aside from the obvious hanahaki attacks, his breathing had worsened immensely and he had started to get random nose bleeds.

As Yuuta would say, he felt like hell, which was quite ironic, taken his current place of residence. Lucifer had one last task left to fulfil: making it through the celebration without raising any suspicions. If he managed to do that, he could die without regrets; could die with the knowledge that he didn't have to sully Lord Diavolo's name.

After Barbatos had caught him, resting in Diavolo's arms, he had spent evening after evening laying out all of his options and had come to one conclusion. If he were to allow himself to be with Diavolo, if he were to alleviate their relationship to a romantic level, he would sooner or later bring shame to Lord Diavolo. As the current demon prince, a romance with his right hand man would be one of the biggest scandals all around devildom. Although the demon king was not present at the moment, he would certainly not be willing to give his blessing for a union like that.

Lucifer snapped out of it and sighed deeply. In moments like this, he couldn't help but feel a saddening kind of softness. After all, this was one of his last days with his brothers. Almost his entire life he'd portrayed himself as the serious, untouchable older brother. Today, he was allowed to be lenient for once.

He pinched the bridge of his nose and turned to Asmodeus. “Pray tell, what is this mission of yours?”

A quick smile flashed across Asmo's face. “Actually, you are my mission.”

Lucifer raised his eyebrows in a silent question. “ **I** am your mission? In what way is this supposed to make sense?”

His little brother put his hands on Lucifer's shoulders and beamed with excitement. “Well, sorry for saying this, but you look terrible, like absolute garbage.”

“You know you can't hurt my feelings with crude language like that. I'm a busy demon and work always comes first. So what are you trying to accomplish?”

Asmodeus sighed in annoyance. “You don't get what I mean. You probably have to be at Diavolo's side the entire party, right?” he questioned, head cocked to one side.

“It's a celebration, not a party, but yes. It's what's expected from me. Diavolo and I will be responsible for our honoured guests.”

Asmodeus didn't skip a beat. “Looking like that?” he murmured sweetly, yet still loud enough for Lucifer to hear.

Of course, Lucifer had allowed himself to be somewhat kind during his last days, but that didn't mean he'd let his brother bully him without reason. With a strong hand, he whacked Asmodeus in the back of his head.

“Ouch! What was that for?? Lucifer, you're such a meanie! I was just trying to help!” Asmo wailed. “Don't you think you should look perfect for the party? It's no secret that you're blessed with good genes, but right now, you're looking like a zombie!” He rubbed the back of his head as he averted his eyes. “Don't you want to look good for Lord Diavolo?” he added, his expression obviously fake lost in thought.

“What was that last part about?” Lucifer asked coldly, a sickly sweet smile painted on his face as he gripped Asmo's wrist a little bit too tight.

“Oh, did I say that out loud?” came the answer. “Whoopsie.”

“Stop it with your little games, Asmodeus. We both know you have come here with an agenda. Knowing you, there's no way to persuade you to just leave it. So what are you here for?” With a deep sigh, he twirled his hand in a circular motion, signalling his brother to keep talking.

Asmodeus basically lit up. “I'm giving you a makeover!”

Lucifer simply glowered at him. As soon as Asmodeus recognized the look on his brother's face, he corrected himself.

“I'm not saying you need a makeover, after all you are gorgeous Lucifer, I just think you need a bit of last minute skin care to perfect your complexion. Both your exhaustion and hana-”

At the mention of his disease, Lucifer threw Asmodeus a threatening look, making him freeze in place for a second.

“Both your exhaustion and your _illness_ ,” he corrected himself, “have taken a toll on you. Wouldn't our beloved guests get worried if they caught you walking around like the living dead?” Asmo concluded.

After a few moments of silence, Lucifer surrendered and sat down on his chair. Deep down he could tell that this wasn't just another one of Asmodeus' shenanigans. There was a bigger picture he wasn't quite aware of.

Still, that didn't erase the fact that his brother had a valid point. If he were to attend the celebration looking gaunt and exhausted, people would eventually end up gossiping. Lord Diavolo already had a hard time proving himself to be as good of a leader as his father had been, rumours about his overworked right hand man were the last thing he needed at the moment.

Lucifer felt a petal working itself up his throat again. He coughed once, trying to alleviate the discomfort, but to no avail. Given the fact that Asmodeus was already in the picture, he felt little shame in pulling the trash bin out from under his desk. Forearms leaning heavily on his thighs, he leaned forward and quickly heaved a load of petals into the already overflowing trash bin. For a few moments he stayed in that position until he could feel his elbows digging into his thighs harshly. Tomorrow, there would probably be bruises there. Lucifer now leaned back, letting the back of his head hit the chair's backrest.

“Do not say anything, I don't need your unnecessary comments,” he said, voice croaky. “Save it.” Suddenly,he felt something trickling down his nose. Blood.

Asmodeus squeaked at the sight of it. “Tip your head back! Tip your head back, oh my god!! Wait, don't tip it back I think you're not supposed to do that! Towel.. towel!” He hurried across the room, scurrying to find anything to stop the bleeding. Eventually, he found one of Lucifer's handkerchiefs and ran back to his side.

“That's not necessary,” Lucifer started as he held the palm of his hand pressed to his nose, blood trickling down to the slightly protruding bone of his wrist.

“Just let me do this!” Asmo exclaimed as he shoved the handkerchief in Lucifer's face. Lucifer let out a few grumbles, but still grabbed the handkerchief and held it to his nose. “So, we were discussing your plan?” he continued their former conversation, acting as if nothing had happened.

Asmodeus looked at him intensely and for a second, a look of suppressed anger cracked through the mask he had carefully crafted. However, it disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. After breathing out heavily, he fixed his bangs with steady fingers and put on a smile.

“Of course. So, I've been thinking about what we can do to make you look less like you're about to drop dead and more like you're drop dead gorgeous, right? I still have a few amazing creams and tinctures which can save you from literally anything. We are going to use those on you. With that, problem number one will be solved,” he snapped his finger, “just like that.”

Lucifer folded the bloodied handkerchief in half and pressed it back against his nose. He wasn't the biggest fan of all of Asmo's flowery perfumes and creams; admittedly, the heavy scents gave him migraines, but if it would help him look more presentable for his last duties, he would have to suffer through it. “I understand. What else?”

Asmodeus clapped his hands once. “Problem two is mostly me being nitpicky, but I just know it will make you shine so much more and take everyone's attention off your illness. I'm not trying to be rude here, but you do have a track record of being terrible at hiding,” he motioned towards the full trash bin, “that. You have to show me your outfit and I'll work out how we can perfect it.”

Perfection. Exactly what Lucifer wanted to portray, almost to an obsessive degree. Everything had to be neat and tidy for his final performance.

The bleeding had finally stopped and Lucifer threw the handkerchief into the bin on top of all the sickly smelling petals and buds. “Alright then, follow me to my chambers.”

“So?”

Asmodeus was standing in the middle of Lucifer's room as he waited for his brother to bring out his fit for tomorrow's party. He knew Lucifer could tell something was up, but seeing as he had only a day left and his pride to maintain, he had budged. Well, he had budged very reluctantly. Taken the fact that they were talking about Lucifer however, it was a wonder he had given in to begin with.

When him, his brothers and Yuuta had formed their plan, Asmodeus had immediately known what exactly he had to say to Lucifer to get him to involuntarily cooperate. Catering to his pride had been their only realistic option and it had worked incredibly well.

 _We're not gonna let you go, you stubborn brother of ours. We're annoying like that and you are all that we have left_ , Asmodeus thought to himself for a moment.

He was nervous to a certain degree, but out of all of his brothers and Yuuta, he was the one with the most viable poker-face.

Asmodeus prided himself in being distracting and eye-catching, turning conversations around was his forte. Now he completely had to rely on those skills of his. Everyone was depending on him to make this work somehow. He hid shaking fingers behind his back as Lucifer stepped back into his field of view, holding a pristine black suit. It was neither too plain nor too ornate, perfect in a marriage of respectability and beauty. Thoughtfully, Asmodeus nodded his head as he circled the suit once, looking at every inch of fabric closely.

“We can work with this. Waistcoat and shirt?” he then asked, his pointer ghosting over his lips.

“Red waistcoat, the dress shirt is a regular black one,” Lucifer answered, handing over the suit to his brother. Asmodeus laid it out on the bed, careful not to crease the suit.

“The waistcoat is a good choice, but drop the black dress shirt.”

Lucifer furrowed his eyebrows. “What is wrong with a black dress shirt. It's professional yet elegant.”

“That's exactly the point. This is not a business meeting, this is a party.”

“Celebration,” Lucifer cut in.

“Par-ty,” Asmo insisted. “Lord Diavolo and you are there to entertain and mingle with the guests. Dress like it. Aren't parties there to impress and wow the crowd?” He winked at his brother. “Or do you want me to have all the attention to myself? Oh Lucifer, I didn't know you were this considerate! Anyway, the shirt gets switched out with a black dress shirt made out of lace, no getting out of this one.”

Lucifer glowered at him. It was almost hilariously obvious how badly he wanted this situation to be over. “Are you done?”

“Am I done? I've barely even started! Show me the shoes!”

After crossing the room again, Lucifer brought over a pair of elegant, black dress shoes. Asmodeus stared at them in blank horror. “Ew. Ew ew ew. Nope, we are certainly **not** doing **that!** ”

With a bit too much force Lucifer sat down on the bed, barely suppressing a deep grumble. “What's the problem now?”

“What's the-? Everything! Lucifer, how did you manage to woo Lord Diavolo with clothes this unadventurous?!”

“I told you before, I do not-” before he could finish his sentence Asmodeus raised one finger and dashed out of the room.

Lucifer sprung up from his bed and quickly grabbed the nearest handkerchief, coughing into it violently. His throat hurt to the point that one, two, three more buds didn't matter all that much anymore. He tasted blood, but kept coughing until what had been clogging up his windpipe dislodged. Two bloodied buds were now lying in the handkerchief between his hands, a blue rose and a white rose.

Images of those mesmerizing eyes, all honey and smoke, flashed through his mind again. Nowadays, the mere mention of Diavolo was enough to send Lucifer into painful fits. Still, he had made his decision and he was going to have to live with it. Or rather, he had to die with it, but that was just semantics right there.

Just as his breathing calmed down again, Asmodeus barged back into the room, holding something in his hands.

In the middle of wiping blood from the corner of his mouth, Lucifer looked back up, realizing what exactly his little brother had brought over so excitedly.

“You cannot be serious about this.”

Asmodeus flashed him one of his signature smiles, a smile few could say no to. Although Lucifer was different from regular demons, even he himself found it difficult to refuse his little brother when he exuded this kind of energy. But Lucifer knew his brothers better than anyone else. Asmodeus' smiles were infused with his powers. Whether he did this on purpose or not was a completely different question though. Awareness generally lowered the impact Asmodeus' powers had on you.

“Yep! I'm completely serious about this. I will come by 2 hours before the party starts so I can do your make-up.”

Without batting an eye Lucifer crossed his arms. He had worn make-up on multiple occasions, a little bit of concealer or foundation here and there to hide his tiredness and exhaustion. Knowing his brother however, this was not going to be where it ended.

Apparently Asmodeus saw the distrusting look on Lucifer's face, since he hurriedly scrolled through his phone, turning it to Lucifer to show him the picture he had just looked up.

“Like that,” he said. “Doesn't that look just darling? We'll use a little bit of red eyeshadow, which will work great with your eyes, then apply a tiny bit of eyeliner and then finish it off with mascara. Subtle yet enticing.” Slowly, he looked up at his brother who seemed to study the photo for a moment.

“Enticing? I would rather say it's quite daring, taken the fact that I am Lord Diavolo's right hand man.”

Asmodeus sighed deeply. “I promise, I'm not trying to make you look like a whore! This is gonna look so sophisticated! You're gonna look hot!”

Finally, Lucifer gave in, not because of his brother's last comment, but because it was his last day with his family. With _Lord Diavolo_. Going out meekly had never been quite his style.

“For once, I entrust myself to you. Do **not** disappoint me, Asmodeus,” he threatened, but his brother was barely listening to him as he had already jumped up and hugged Lucifer tightly, nuzzling his chest with his head for a moment. Surprised, Lucifer froze for a moment, but then resorted himself to awkwardly patting Asmo's head. A few moments later, Asmo let go again.

“It's settled then, I'll see you tomorrow!” he beamed before leaving the room with a spring to his step.

Lucifer sighed deeply as he let himself sink back onto his bed. Suddenly, his eyes settled on the clothing item Asmodeus had brought over before. Boots with a heel, approximately four inches in height, which would reach over his knees, hugging the beginning of his thighs in an almost promiscuous promise, made of the richest of leathers. They were beautiful works of craft, there was no denying that.

Lucifer's gut feeling was telling him that tomorrow would be the most interesting of days. No matter how much he would have preferred a calm passing, the fact that his brothers were involved in some way or another told him that chaos would inevitably ensue. After all, it always did.

There was only one certainty about tomorrow's evening in the ballroom: it would undeniably be Lucifer's last day alive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's finally done! Okay, this kind of escalated a teenie little bit. This was actually supposed to be like 1.5k words. Turned out to be almost 3.4k. Whoopsie. Whenever Asmo is involved I somehow can't shut the fuck up. And that's on being an Asmo stan on main. I had a few prroblems witing this chapter because I kept getting distracted, it was literally so annoying bc I wanted to write but my brain simply said. No, we're ~not~ doing that today. Cue me sitting on tiktok for hours upon hours. But yeah, you can probably tell, this fanfic is slowly coming to an end. I know I'll be sad once it's over, but writing this has been a literal blessing and has filled me with so much joy i hadn't felt in a long time. Nvm getting distracted again. This fanfic will probably finished in two chapter and then maybe I'll add a bonus chapter, but I'm still trying to work that out.  
> Anyway, I love y'all and I hope you're all having nice and calm days!  
> As always, you can find me on tumblr @leviathanswingman or on twitter @simpingshrimp. Comments, kudos and criticism are always appreciated. Stay hydrated kids!


	13. L'Homme Qui A Seduit Le Diable

For one last time Lucifer was standing in front of the mirror, fixing every last flaw to his appearance he could find.

As planned, he had met up with Asmodeus two hours prior to the event. Immediately after having entered Lucifer's room Asmodeus had thrown multiple bags onto the bed before hoisting a big make-up case onto the dressing table. He snapped the clasps open and revealed multiple compartments filled to the brim with beauty products ranging from different foundation shades to various lipsticks in any colour imaginable.

„Well, let's get to work! I can't wait to make you even more gorgeous than usual“ Asmodeus had chirped as he began working on his brother, apparently chipper, but still there was an undeniable shaking to his hands.

An hour later, the job was done and Asmo had left suspiciously early, almost as if he had been in a hurry. Lucifer decided to not dwell on that fact. „See you at the party!!“ were the last words he had heard his little brother exclaim.

Now Lucifer was left to his own devices again. His eyes were glued to the reflection in the mirror staring back at him. If he stared any longer he felt as if his reflection would climb out of the mirror, lunging towards him and grabbing him roughly by the throat, throwing him to the ground while chanting a mantra of „I'll _kill you i'll kill you i'll kill kill kill-_ “ Lucifer slammed his fist roughly against the wall, pulling himself out of his vision. A trickle of blood slowly dripped down his roughed up knuckles, which Lucifer chose to ignore.

Once again, he observed himself in the mirror and had to admit, his reflection looked rather exquisite. Asmodeus had done an exceptional job, as usual. With various tinctures and creams he had successfully managed to hide the deep sat bags under Lucifer's eyes and with a layer of foundation his otherwise sickly pale skin tone had been turned into a porcelain one. The most amount of time however had been spent on his eyes. Shades of red blended together carefully were now embellishing his eyes, giving him a powerful look. Additionally, Asmo had applied the slightest amount of eyeliner and mascara, barely noticeable, yet still efficient.

Lucifer observed himself for another moment. In the beginning, he had had his doubts about this whole ordeal, but looking at it now, he found himself satisfied with the result. Asmodeus had kept his promise after all. Instead of painting Lucifer like a cheap harlot he had used his skills to cater to Lucifer's tastes and delivered a result which looked and felt natural to the demon. Of course, a look so flauntingly attention grabbing was foreign to Lucifer, yet he felt confident in this different version of himself. After all, Lucifer wanted to spend his last day acting and presenting himself in the most perfect of ways.

Quietly, Lucifer styled his hair as his favourite track of Levi's cursed TSL soundtrack filled the silence of the room on repeat.

As soon as he was done he went over to the closet and pulled out the outfit he was supposed to wear tonight. For a moment he lingered as he let his fingers run along the delicate seams and high quality fabric of the black lace shirt. To someone like Lucifer, clothing like this was beyond daring. Lace, so innocent in its original nature, yet so alluring now that it was dyed black. It was a fabric which eluded seductive energy, the fabric of a tempter.

 _L'homme qui a seduit le diable_.

Lucifer put on the shirt, nodding as he felt the quality of the fabric against his skin. The fit was immaculate as well, as expected from his fashion obsessed brother. He put on the rest of the suit and then stopped in his tracks as he ogled the boots Asmodeus had picked out for him.

Once again, an item of clothing Lucifer himself would have never chosen out of his own free will. Still, he picked them up and sat down on the edge of his bed, slowly pulling them past his knees and over his thighs as he spent his time lacing them up carefully. After he was done, he walked over to the full body mirror near his closet and studied his appearance. He looked elegant, his usual modesty replaced by the undeniable allure of dirty lace and cunning heels. If Lord Diavolo could see him like this-

Before Lucifer could finish his train of thought he was interrupted by the painful feeling of petals stuck in his throat, right in-between the border of his air pipes and his esophagus. He coughed heavily to dislodge them, but his efforts turned out to be useless. The petals he could feel so very clearly were stuck and refused to exit his body. Instead of coughing them out effortlessly Lucifer ended up stuck, sinking down to his knees as he realized that his only way out was to throw them up. Under his dressing table was a trash bin, so he grabbed it in an almost routinely manner and relieved himself. The sound of Lucifer's gagging, as involuntary as it was, filled the room. Lucifer didn't see the need to feel exposed, after all, his room was sound proofed. As a demon who took pride in his torturing skills, sound proofing in his room was very much a necessity. After he was done he roughly wiped the back of his hand across his mouth, getting rid of any sort of evidence of his illness.

Lucifer then made his way down to the conference room of RAD where he was supposed to meet up with Barbatos and Diavolo before the celebration for any last minute questions. He arrived at the arranged meeting time, stilling in front of the door for a moment, hesitating as his fingers lingered on the ornate doorknob. Lucifer straightened his already perfect posture, rolled his shoulders to ease the soreness and then pushed the door open.

As he opened the door, he saw Barbatos waiting for him. Diavolo, however, was nowhere to be seen. Lucifer stepped into the room, the clacking of his heels on the marbled floor filling the silence.

“ Hello there, Lucifer. You look good,” Barbatos greeted as he mustered Lucifer from top to bottom, his eyes lingering on Lucifer's boots a second too long. A slight smile spread on his face as he approached. The demon looked barely any different than usual, except for the fact that his regular suit had been traded in for a slightly more adorned, festive one. Barbatos nodded slightly as he circled Lucifer once. “I see Asmodeus has gotten his hands on you. Dare I say, it suits you quite well.”

Lucifer raised an eyebrow at the comment. “Thank you,” he said as he stepped further into the room and closed the door behind him. “You look quite sophisticated yourself. I don't suppose Lord Diavolo is hiding in that closet back there, so I must ask. Where is he? Wasn't he supposed to be here ten minutes ago?” Lucifer sighed as he brushed his bangs out of his face “We always give him an earlier time for our meetings yet he still always manages to arrive too late. There really is no helping him, is there?”

All of a sudden, there were the suppressed sounds of a struggle coming from outside of the door. For a second Lucifer thought he could hear Diavolo's voice arguing with someone. Once again, Lucifer felt flower buds piling up in his throat, threatening to suffocate him. Quickly, he coughed into the crook of his elbow twice just as the noise started to quiet down again. How strange. He reached for the doorknob just as Barbatos touched his shoulder lightly.

“There's no need for that. We don't want the groom to see his bride right before the event now, do we?” he asked with an unreadable expression.

Lucifer turned around, suspicion growing as he got a bad feeling deep in his gut. “Who were you calling a bride just now?” he asked, voice stern and slightly too stiff. Even though Lucifer was aware of the fact that today would be his last day, he couldn't help but feel suspicious of Barbatos' motives. That demon was always planning one thing or the other, so in times like these, with Lucifer deadly sick, there were plenty of reasons to suspect him.

His throat was tickling dangerously, so Lucifer pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket, coughing roughly as several petals spilled out of his throat.

Barbatos mustered him with contempt. “You are aware that you do not have it end like this, right?” he asked coldly and Lucifer threw him a nasty look as he let the handkerchief slip back into his pocket.

“There's no other way,” he stated, not in the mood to engage in yet another battle of words. At this point, there was no one who could change his mind. After all, Lucifer had made peace with the situation a long time ago. Yet somehow, deep inside, he felt a certain kind of anxiety eating him up whole. Lucifer wasn't afraid of death. He imagined it as a pitch black nothingness, a world void of neither happiness nor sadness, a state of blissful unimportance where everyone and everything were were equally as unimportant.

No, what Lucifer feared most was having to let go.

Would it really be alright to leave his brothers, Diavolo and all the other demons to their own devices? In all honesty, Lucifer could not find the answers to all these questions, no matter how long he let them ghost through his brain. Leaving was the most difficult thing for him to do. All he had to do was pass the reigns over to someone else, yet there was a heavy, dull feeling in his chest whenever he so much as thought about it.

He knew he was about to tear out a piece of his loved ones hearts, but he knew they would eventually get over it and grow stronger from it.

After all, his brothers were strong. Yuuta had been through a lot already, he knew how to bounce back. And Lord Diavolo-

Diavolo would be heartbroken, this much Lucifer knew. Thinking about it too much only made his head hurt, so Lucifer shut down the downward spiral of his thoughts. Lord Diavolo had Barbatos, he would have to pull through somehow. Lucifer coughed into the crook of his elbow once again.

The celebration was about to start and Lucifer still hadn't seen Diavolo around. Normally he would get restless and order an entire sweep of RAD to find his demon lord, yet Barbatos' laissez-faire attitude made Lucifer doubt that Diavolo had simply overslept. There was definitely something going on, and the fact that Lucifer seemed to be the only person left out filled him with a certain sort of nausea. He knew that in the best of cases, only Asmodeus and Barbatos were involved. Knowing his brothers however, if one was involved that generally meant that the whole bunch of them was somehow in it as well.

Lucifer sighed deeply as he headed over to the bathroom. He tried to stop worrying about everything, after all there was nothing he could do about it at the moment. Of course, there was always the option of choking out Asmodeus for answers, but that wouldn't do it today since Diavolo's celebration had to take utmost importance. All he wanted was for the celebration to go over smoothly, but there was that voice in the back of his mind promising him that sadly, that wouldn't be the case at all.

As he pushed the door open, he firstly noticed that Barbatos and all of his brothers were already present, mingling with their first guests.

 _All_ of his brothers were there. This had to be a fever dream.

Lucifer approached just as his eyes focussed on Leviathan clumsily standing in front of a guest, apparently having run out of small talk material, so they were just awkwardly staring at each other.

“Good evening, you must be Lady Naamah. It is awfully good to see you, I hope your arrival has been nothing but pleasant. I am Lucifer, Lord Diavolo's second in command,” Lucifer greeted, a pleasant smile on his face as he shook Lady Naamah's hand gently,

The woman flushed deep red as she took his hand. “O- oh thank you, my travel to Devildom has been nothing but pleasant. I thank you for your hospitality, please give Lord Diavolo my deepest regards, he has outdone himself once again. After all, he is the finest of demons,” Lady Naamah gushed as she let go of Lucifer's hand.

“Of course, now if you'll excuse me, I have other guests to attend to.” Lucifer bowed slightly as he took Levi by the shoulder, leading him away from their guests. As soon as they were by themselves Leviathan's head slumped down. With shaking fingers he timidly messed with his bangs.

“I'm really a good for nothing shut-in,” he muttered as he kept his head down. “I tried, I really did.”

Lucifer put his hands on his hips as he thought of the best way to approach his brother. Social gatherings had always been hard on Leviathan. Due to his shut-in nature being around too many people made him freak out.

Gently, he put his hands on Levi's shoulders. “Look at me,” he said and Levi finally lifted his head again. “ _You_ don't have to approach the guests unless you want to. That is my function. Stick to Yuuta, he isn't the most sociable either. I don't need the two of you running around making yourselves uncomfortable.” He ruffled through Levi's hair in a teasing manner. “Understood?”

“Hey, stop that,” Levi mumbled as he pushed Lucifer's hand away. He cleared his throat and awkwardly fumbled with his hands. “But thanks,” he added quietly before running off to find Yuuta.

Lucifer sighed as he straightened his posture and went back to the celebration. More guests were arriving from minute to minute and he had to portray himself in the most positive of lights. He had to do it for both Diavolo and the future of RAD.

He discreetly coughed into his handkerchief, noticing slight speckles of blood on it out of the corner of his eye. Almost nonchalantly, Lucifer let the handkerchief slip back into his pocket. Nothing new. It was almost perverse how used Lucifer had gotten to the fact that he was stuck spending evening after evening bleeding and spitting, fields of bloody petals growing beneath his feet like a cursed field of flowers.

His chest felt heavy and it was hard for Lucifer to hide the fact that he couldn't breathe all that much. Although he looked pristine, thanks to Asmodeus' help, he felt incredibly awful.

Before the celebration Lucifer had downed as many painkillers as he could without casually offing himself before his inevitable death this evening. Still, there was only so much painkillers could do against a lethal illness.

For a moment Lucifer excused himself before walking out the door, rounding a few corners until he found an empty, slightly remote hallway. Hidden from the public eye, Lucifer slumped against the wall, breathing heavily. Every time he tried to take a deep breath, there was the unmistakable sound of his lungs rattling. Every time he tried to take a deep breath Lucifer could feel the way his lungs were straining, struggling to keep him going while roots held him at gunpoint.

Lucifer's chest felt heavy with discomfort and lamentations as he pressed his hand against it, prodding carefully.

His hand rested on his chest, right where his left lung was placed. He closed his eyes as he took a shallow breath, feeling the rattling in his chest.

The vivid image of sharp roots and thorns protruding from his body, having pierced through his lungs and ripped through his body as Lucifer laid on the floor, crimson blood, terrifyingly vibrant in contrast to the white marbled floor, gushing out of his mangled body. His brothers were scurrying around desperately, and someone was leaning over his body, screaming desperately as Lucifer took his last breath and with one final bloodied cough the life left his eyes forever. The last thing he saw were wet, golden eyes, distraught in sorrow.

Lucifer snapped out of this twisted fantasy of his and pushed himself off the wall, stumbling a bit. He straightened his posture, checked himself through the camera option of his DDD and made his way back to the celebration, leaving an empty hallway with several petals on the floor behind him.

Back in the ballroom, Lucifer mingled with the guests for a while. There was still no sign of Lord Diavolo. Lucifer's hand twitched in annoyance. Where was that bothersome man? The celebration hadn't officially started yet, but the possibility of Lord Diavolo coming too late to his own celebration was a horrifying thought to Lucifer.

As he overlooked the current state of the celebration, making sure that everything was going smoothly, he spotted two of his brothers lingering around. Lucifer approached Beelzebub who was sitting at one of the tables, a dead asleep Belphegor slouched against his shoulder. Without hesitation, Lucifer flicked Belphie's forehead with two fingers, waking him up almost immediately.

“Don't go and fall asleep anywhere you go,” he lectured as Belphie cussed quietly, rubbing his forehead which was turning slightly red with one hand and his eyes with another.

“But I'm sooo sleepy.” He blinked once, then glared at Lucifer out of tired eyes, then blinked again in slight surprise. He looked up to Beel and suddenly started laughing, sounding moderately deranged. “Beel, look! He really did it, fuck me!”

Lucifer's scowl deepened as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. “First of all, language. Second, what are you trying to say?”

Beel mustered Lucifer and nodded. “You look good, Lucifer,” he stated as he grabbed the menu and stared at it for a moment. His stomach grumbled loudly. “When will they bring out the food? I'm hungry.”

Belphie was still wheezing, slapping his knee repeatedly as he tried to breathe. “Lucifer, you really let Asmo get his hands on you? You look like a real Prince Charming, you know that,” he mocked as he lazily stood up from the chair, stretching out his legs.

An icy look crossed over Lucifer's face as his fingers twitched. _This little-_

Belphegor knew exactly how pedantic Lucifer was about keeping up appearances in the public eye, so he knew there was no way for Lucifer to get violent.

Instead of punishing his little brother Lucifer put on a shining smile. “Thank you for the compliment, dearest brother,” he pushed out through clenched teeth.

Tomorrow, he would- oh. In the heat of the moment he had almost forgotten that there was in fact no tomorrow. All he had left was today. Lucifer didn't even realize he had frozen in place until he was brought back to reality by Mammon flailing his hand back and forth in front of Lucifer's face.

“Oiiiiii, Lucifer. Lucifer! I think ya guys broke him!”

Taken by surprise, Lucifer grabbed Mammon by the wrist, stopping him in his acts a bit too forcefully.

“What do you think you're doing?”

“I was callin out for a while, but ya weren't respondin. I had to do somethin!” Mammon winced and squinted his eyes shut, expecting some form of punishment.

Lucifer snorted once and raised his hand as his brother quivered. Although instead of being rough, Lucifer plopped his hand down onto Mammon's head and messed with his thick locks.

“Aaah!” he yelled out, but then stopped quickly as he realized he wasn't in any sort of danger. “Huh?! Hey stop it, don't treat me like a dog!” Mammon whined.

A short moment later Lucifer dropped his hand and chuckled softly. “I was distracted, that's why I didn't react,” he explained himself. “I'll go looking for Barbatos, so now go and be good, do you hear me?”

With that, Lucifer turned around, in search of Barbatos, leaving behind a confused Mammon who just stood frozen in place for a moment. “No way,” he mumbled stupefied before he caught himself again.

“Well that was something,” Belphie murmured from where he was leaning against the wall, half-asleep again. “Someone thawed Lucifer's icy innards.”

Mammon quickly whipped around to his brother. “Ya saw that too, right? That wasn't just a weird ass daydream??”

“Yup.”

“Just wait until Yuuta hears about this,” he said, bewildered. “Oi, Yuuta!! Ya'll never believe what just happened,” he barked as he took off running.

Beelzebub and Belphegor shook their heads almost simultaneously in amusement. “ Mammon really is his favourite, huh,” Beel said as Belphie started nodding off again.

“I'm just glad it isn't me. That would've been awkward-” Belphie mumbled as he slipped back into his dreamland.

As his twin fell asleep Beelzebub's expression darkened. He couldn't help but feel despair whenever he watched Lucifer, knowing that he was putting up a front. A part of him wanted Barbatos to be wrong, wanted to feel at peace with the fact that Lucifer couldn't possibly leave them any second to never return again. Looking at his brother however, so shiny in appearance, yet obviously so strongly in distress, made Beel's stomach turn. To normal demons, Lucifer seemed like his regular self, but to his brothers, the difference was obvious.

For a split second Beel found himself pushing the blame onto himself and his brothers. If only they had noticed earlier, would it have changed things? They should've noticed earlier. In hindsight, there had been so much evidence and strange behaviour coming from Lucifer, yet they all had shrugged it off, thinking it was just Lucifer being in a weird mood.

Now, their only chance at saving Lucifer was the plan they'd come up with. That plan however, was not foolproof and relied mostly on Lucifer's compliance, which was quite the shaky foundation to begin with. None of them could even imagine to what kind of world they would wake up to tomorrow. All they had left was pure faith that Lucifer would for once put his pride aside.

Beelzebub sighed as he picked up the menu again. He stared at it, but realized that he felt sick to his stomach.

Lucifer crossed the ballroom in search of Barbatos, stepping around lingering guests as they were wasting their time until Lord Diavolo's welcoming speech would take place.

Finally, he spotted the back of Barbatos' head near the entryway. Lucifer sped up his steps as he walked over to Barbatos.

“Barbatos!” he called out, voice deep and gravelly, and the demon turned around to him.

“Oh, Lucifer. Good to see you again. Is there anything you need?” he asked nonchalantly as he checked his pocket watch quietly, yet suspiciously well timed.

Lucifer crossed his arms and leaned forward a bit. “You know exactly why I'm here,” he hissed in a hushed tone. “Lord Diavolo still isn't here and he is supposed to hold his speech in five damn minutes. The fact that you don't even bat an eye is telling me that you know something about this.” With one finger pointing at Barbatos accusingly and without taking his eyes off Barbatos, Lucifer grabbed one of the glasses of demonus the servers were carrying around on trays and took a heavy sip. “I believe you have some explaining to do, what are you planning.”

Due to the nature of his angry rant, Lucifer had completely forgotten to control his breathing, so almost immediately he was sent into a heavy coughing fit. Pushing the handkerchief he carried with him to his mouth, he managed to calm down rather quickly, but not without noticing the alarming amount of blood he had just coughed up. Slowly, he turned around to the guests, checking if anyone had seen too much. Everyone still seemed to be lost in different conversations, so he was quite sure that no one had noticed. The only thing seemingly out of place was Asmodeus, who was surrounded by many guests, but had his full attention on Lucifer. With one hand on his chest and the other buried in the fabric of his pants, knuckles white, he locked eyes with Lucifer for a moment, eyes pleading, before turning back to the guests he'd been entertaining. A young man passed him a glass of demonus and Asmodeus downed half of it in a hurry.

Lucifer turned back to Barbatos, who typed something on his DDD and then looked up at Lucifer again. “Going back to your previous accusations, yes I am in the knowing as to why Lord Diavolo hasn't arrived yet. But to accuse me of planning anything mischievous is almost slanderous. Do I seem like the kind of person to do something like that?”

“Yes you do,” Lucifer stated, not even raising an eyebrow as he mustered Barbatos. He had known the demon long enough to know that he could never fully trust him. Before he could keep going, he suddenly heard the chatter of the people increase in volume. Shreds of a particular conversation caught his attention.

“You said he'd be here, so where is he? You know how worried I am.”

“Come on, grandpa. He's back there with Barbatos, look, I can clearly see them. Perhaps you've gotten blind? Have the cataracts finally started to develop?”

“Now don't be like that, Satan. Show at least a little bit of respect.”

“That's certainly not Lucifer. He would never wear-”

The voice caught off just as Lucifer turned around towards it. So he had been right.

Lord Diavolo was staring at him intensely, his cheeks dusted bright red as he let his gaze wander from the top of Lucifer's head to the bottom of his soles.

“Lord Diavolo,” he greeted as he approached Diavolo, who was joined by Satan to his left and Solomon to his right. That combination was such a strange one, Lucifer could almost feel it fuel his suspicions on the spot. “Pray tell, where have you been all this time? I already feared you miss out on your own celebration and someone,” he looked back at Barbatos passive aggressively, “didn't see the need to inform me of whatever is going on.”

Barbatos walked over innocently. “Oh, I must have forgotten about that. My apologies.”

There was a little part of Lucifer that played with the thought of strangling Barbatos right there on the spot. For the sake of Diavolo's reputation however, Lucifer did not, in fact, choke Barbatos out for all their guests to see.

All of a sudden Diavolo left Satan and Solomon's side and quickly walked over to Barbatos and Lucifer.

Before he could foresee it, Diavolo had encased Lucifer in a bone-crushing hug. If he hadn't gotten so used to the constricting ways of his lungs, Lucifer would definitely not have lasted for as long as he did this time.

Some of the guests were turning their heads to enjoy the show, and seeing the way they watched them in such a compromising situation made Lucifer's cheek turn dark red. “L-Lord Diavolo, please, we have guests,” he forced out and Lord Diavolo released him from the embrace, yet kept his hands tightly on Lucifer's shoulders. “Lucifer!” he exclaimed, his excitement akin to that of a puppy wagging its tail at the sight of its favourite toy. Once again, he mustered his right hand man from head to toe.

Lucifer didn't miss the way his eyes were roaming over his body and for no explainable reason whatsoever, Lucifer felt exposed. He could be standing there buck naked and he would have been less embarrassed than he was feeling right now. As he made eye contact with Diavolo he couldn't help but feel captured by those fierce eyes. The way they were shining in the dim light, Lucifer was stuck between feeling impassioned and feeling intimidated.

“I have never seen you like this, Lucifer. What a powerful thing you've been hiding from me! You look absolutely breathtaking, murderous even!”

The way Diavolo always managed to gush about Lucifer as if he were the greatest gift to Devildom always managed to bewilder him. When it was about his demon lord, Lucifer tried to be as humble as possible. But how could he stay professional and humble if Diavolo was acting like this? The roots in his chest tightened in a sudden painful grasp and Lucifer shivered as he suppressed the urge to flinch.

“Lord Diavolo, didn't we talk about this? Talking about me like that in public is quite embarrassing,” Lucifer muttered, his fingers, for once gloveless and exposed, curling around Diavolo's hands which were still locked tightly on his shoulders. Slowly, he brought them down. Just as he was about to let go, his gaze fell onto the sight of their hands together, joined in unison. Slender, pale fingers with nails painted red wrapped around tan, slightly calloused hands. He looked up to realize that Diavolo had been watching him closely and Lucifer quickly pulled his hands away, almost flinching. “Excuse me,” he grumbled, looking for any kind of distraction. His head was throbbing and his chest felt incredibly strained, similar to the feeling of a lump in your throat when you're holding yourself back from spilling incriminating tears.

His eyes focussed on Diavolo's appearance and Lucifer almost sighed in relief when he found a good enough distraction. “Your clothes are all wrinkled. You're supposed to hold a speech looking like that? Not on my watch. And look at your tie! Were you drunk when you tied it? Lord Diavolo, you really have to pay attention to these sorts of things.” Lucifer smoothed down Diavolo's clothes before pointing at a somewhat hidden corner of the room. “Over there. I am not going to tie your tie in front of all our guests. What would they think?”

They moved over to the corner and Lucifer untied Lord Diavolo's tie. “I won't be here forever, stuff like this for you,” he mumbled almost inaudibly.

“What was that?”

Lucifer tied the tie a bit too harshly before undoing it and then redoing it accordingly. “Nothing.” Then, he checked his DDD for the time and pushed Diavolo forward softly. “It's time.”

Lord Diavolo grabbed Lucifer by the sleeve before he could walk off. “Wait,” he mumbled. Without thinking, he reached for Lucifer's right hand and brought it to his lips, kissing it lightly. “Thank you, Lucifer.” He let go of his hand and made his way over to the podium.

Glad that he was in the darkest corner of the ballroom, Lucifer broke out in a severe coughing fit. As he forced himself to calm down, he realized he had coughed up one white and one blue rose.

Was Diavolo actively trying to kill him faster? Lucifer's knees buckled and he fell to his knees for a second. His ears were filled with his own heavy breathing and it took him a few seconds before he had collected himself enough to stand up again.

He slowly walked back to Barbatos, who had been waiting for him. Side by side, they walked over to Diavolo, who was about to hold his speech. Barbatos stood to his left and Lucifer walked over to Diavolo's right. Arms crossed behind his back, with his heart racing, he put on a favourable mask as Lord Diavolo started to thank the guests for coming.

Half an hour later, Diavolo ended his speech and opened the banquet. Officially, the celebration had begun now.

Lucifer was sitting at a long table decked with various dishes and drinks, Diavolo and Barbatos next to him. His brothers were also sitting at the table, chatting as they were being their chaotic selves.

Barbatos chuckled as he watched Mammon threaten Asmodeus with his fork. “Everything seems to be going quite well,” he stated, turning around to Lord Diavolo. “All that's left now is the ceremonial dance. I take it you have decided on your partner?” he questioned, a secretive look on his face. Diavolo coughed awkwardly, eyes shifting to the side. “I will ask them right before the dance.”

Lucifer had completely forgotten about the ceremonial dance. It was one of the only parts of the celebration Barbatos had been solely responsible for. Actually, Barbatos had specifically asked to be the only one responsible for it.

The ceremonial dance was unimportant for your average demon. For demonic royalty however, it was of utmost importance. Their partner of choice would be harshly critiqued by the public eye, since to normal demons, royalty like Lord Diavolo were upheld to the status of a celebrity. People always loved to gossip, so Diavolo had to be careful with the partner he chose.

However, as an easy way out, Lord Diavolo had the option to sit out on the dance. This would signal the public that he had no partner in mind, so there was no reason for him to pick out a random demon he didn't actually care about. Given the fact however that Diavolo had chosen a partner, the whole situation had changed. Choosing a partner for the ceremonial dance was a proposal, an admission of sorts to the public, akin to telling the public that you had found a deserving equal.

Lucifer's skin crawled at the thought of him inevitably watching Diavolo profess his love and respect for another demon in front of the whole world. He had always been comfortable with the reality of Lord Diavolo sooner or later finding his match, whether that would be out of love or for his status. Still, that didn't make any of it easier on him.

“Oh?” he simply asked as he kept a tight grip on the disinterested mask he had screwed tightly onto his face. Under the table though, he clenched his fist around the fabric of his suit as he felt a petal threatening to force its way up his throat.

The way he was acting made him feel almost sick, so audacious and utterly selfish. Jealousy was running through his veins, green and ugly, poisoning him more and more as they nourished the flowers growing inside of his chest. He was supposed to be delighted by the fact that Diavolo had finally found someone to tie him down, yet he couldn't bring himself to fake it.

“Yeah, they are truly amazing. I hope I won't get shut down!”

Suddenly, he felt Diavolo's hand on his shoulder and Lucifer quickly slapped it away, his breathing increasing. For a moment, he could hear the rattling of his lungs again which he had been suppressing the entire evening. Diavolo's expression shifted and he leaned forwards towards Lucifer.

“If you'll excuse me,” Lucifer brought up before standing up a bit too forcefully, the chair swaying a bit, threatening to tumble over. Lucifer sped out of the room and as soon as the doors closed behind him and he couldn't see any guests anymore, he picked up his pace and sped towards the bathroom. He tumbled to his knees and gripped the rim of the toilet seat as his lungs ached dangerously, choking him.

Petals and flowers were stuck in his airway, forcing him to cough violently in hopes of dislodging them. It didn't work. Lucifer was gasping for air as involuntary tears ran down his face. He reached into his mouth and as soon as he felt the head of a particularly big blue rose, he yanked on it harshly until it finally gave way. Thorns were cutting into the soft pink flesh inside of his cheeks as he finally pulled out the giant flower. Plenty of smaller buds followed, some with stems, some without. Lucifer sat on his knees, leaning his forearm on the rim of the toilet as he wheezed. The straining feeling in his chest had gone down a little bit, but Lucifer still felt terrible. Experimentally, he coughed a few times, but no more flowers followed.

He eventually stood up and left the stall. He tried not to flinch as he noticed the presence of another person in the cramped bathroom. It was Asmodeus.

For a moment, neither of them said anything. Then, Asmodeus simply hugged Lucifer tightly for a moment before pulling a handkerchief out of his pocket and starting to dab Lucifer's face, getting rid of any trace of what had just happened. “They sent me to get you, the ceremonial dance is about to start,” he murmured, his voice soft and shaky.

Lucifer nodded. “Of course,” he answered with a hoarse voice.

Asmodeus let go of Lucifer's face and sighed, looking incredibly saddened. Although he wanted to help his brother so badly, deep down he knew there was nothing _he_ could do, so instead, he tried to support Lucifer in his own way. It just had to be enough.

He took a deep breath and painted one of his performative smiles on his face. “You should be glad I put waterproof make-up on you, otherwise you'd be looking like a full on mess right now!”

They made their way back to the ballroom. Instead of nervousness, Lucifer felt an almost comfortable sort of numbness. It's not that he hadn't known it would end like this. He had known right from the beginning. Still, why couldn't he get rid of this desperate feeling of regret? He was doing what had to be done. His feelings didn't matter. No, they shouldn't matter.

People were already standing spread out on the dance floor, partnered up and ready to go. Those who didn't feel the need to participate where sitting on their seats, eyes already set on the spectacle that was about to take place.

Asmodeus put his hand on Lucifer's shoulder for a moment before nodding in the direction of the dance floor. “Solomon is waiting for me,” he said excitedly and dashed away.

Dumbfounded, Lucifer watched his brother running towards Solomon, hugging the magician tightly. _Him!?_ Lucifer found himself thinking, starting to doubt Asmodeus' taste in men for a moment.

He started to make his way over to his table, looking around to make sure his brothers weren't up to anything mischievous. Most of them seemed to be sitting out on the dance, as expected. Levi had removed himself from the whole situation, sitting on a chair furthest away from the spectacle as he was busy checking his DDD. Lucifer turned his head, looking for the rest of them. Belphegor was fast asleep on two chairs while Beelzebub next to him was busy working on a huge pile of food. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Mammon sneaking around the tables suspiciously, his hand delving into the coat pockets of their guests. Lucifer's eye twitched in annoyance as he picked up his DDD and sent Mammon a simple text. _Big brother is always watching you_.

Mammon visibly flinched as he checked his DDD and then looked around hastily until his eyes set on Lucifer who simply stared at him with a disappointed, yet not surprised look.

Then, Lucifer passed Satan and Yuuta who were standing on the dance floor, Yuuta looking absolutely mortified. Apparently Satan had somehow managed to bully Yuuta into joining him.

Lucifer smiled inwardly as he watched Yuuta and his brothers. This was how he liked to remember them. Of course, they were more flawed than Lucifer would like them to be, but that was what made them special. His perfect little disaster of a family. He was glad that prior to tonight, he had already written letters to every single one of them, neatly stacked on top of his mahogany desk, ready for them to discover after his untimely passing.

Just as he reached the middle of the dance floor, Barbatos voice rang through the room, amplified by a microphone. “Ladies and Gentlemen, it is time for Lord Diavolo to declare his chosen partner. He shall go up to them and ask them for the pleasure of sharing this dance with him.”

The guests applauded politely as they had their eyes glued on Lord Diavolo, who had emerged next to Barbatos.

Lucifer's heart beat in an unsteady rhythm.

Who would it be? His eyes focussed on Lady Naamah who was standing right next to him, the guest he had saved Levi from. Not only was she royalty, but also one of their most esteemed guests. She seemed to be the most likely candidate, especially considering how she had gushed about Lord Diavolo before.

If he could have his way, Lucifer would simply close his eyes to stay in blissful ignorance, but he couldn't let himself do that after all.

Life was harsh and so was reality. All his life, Lucifer had never been a delusional dreamer and he certainly wasn't about to start now. So he forced himself to follow Lord Diavolo's every move. The demon prince crossed the ballroom, certainty to his step, as he finally halted right in front of Lady Naamah.

Lucifer forced his face to remain as cold and emotionless as he could muster. The scent of flowers filled up his head as he decidedly ignored the painful shifting of sharp stems and roots in his lungs.

His thought process was interrupted as Lord Diavolo dropped to the ground on one knee and grabbed Lucifer's hands gently, his head bowed down for a moment.

For the first time in his life, Lucifer had no idea what was going on. He tried to come up with an answer, however his head provided nothing but static and nonsensical rambling. Perplexed, he looked down at Lord Diavolo, his heart beating to his chest.

Finally, Diavolo lifted his head again, searching for eye contact with Lucifer. Perhaps he had recognized the look on Lucifer's face as fear, since he immediately began running his thumbs along Lucifer's hands in a soothing manner.

He cleared his throat before speaking up. “Lucifer, my most loyal servant and friend, many decades have passed since we first met, yet you are still as radiant as you were the day I first laid eyes on you. I respect you and hereby accept you as my equal. Will you allow me to share this dance with you?” Diavolo's sturdy voice rang through the room as the guests observed their interaction with bated breath.

All Lucifer could see was Diavolo kneeling before him with a crooked smile on his face as he held his hands, awaiting a response, his golden eyes shimmering in the light like stars.

Lucifer was completely overwhelmed. He didn't know what this meant to Diavolo. Sometimes, that man could be incredibly daft. Who knew, maybe to him this was some highly elaborate friendship ritual.

Still, with his lungs begging him to accept the invitation, Lucifer felt utterly helpless. This man had him act in ways he never would have allowed himself to before. Lucifer was completely whipped.

Just once, he wanted to know what it was like to openly be with Diavolo, out in public, full of pride as Diavolo's chosen one.

This was probably the last time he would see him ever again before he died. Lucifer's hands shook slightly as he smiled at Diavolo sadly. After all, he was killing him slowly, yet softly and Lucifer had to come at peace with that.

“Yes, you shall have this dance, Diavolo,” Lucifer answered loudly and clearly as he heard several gasps coming from the audience, followed by booming applause. The music set in almost immediately and Diavolo stepped up again, still holding Lucifer's hands. “Let's go then,” he beamed as he let go of Lucifer's hands, instead placing one hand on Lucifer's back as Lucifer slid his hand up to Diavolo's shoulder. Their free hands were interlocked now and Diavolo grinned as he pulled Lucifer closer, flush against his chest for a moment. Lucifer feared Diavolo could feel the beating of his heart through the thin fabric of his shirt.

They started swaying to the one-two-three of the classical piece that was playing, both lost in a different world. As they swayed and twirled, the people around them blurred to a hazy grey. Nothing was of importance in that moment except for Diavolo and the way he looked so powerful in that suit, eyes shining like polished golden coins as he focussed on nothing and no one except for Lucifer alone. Calloused hands holding his slender ones, red and black in a tangle of fingers. The clacking of Lucifer's boots on the ground as they followed the routine of the waltz, the warm feeling of Diavolo's hand steadying Lucifer's back as he held onto Diavolo's muscular shoulder, feeling the way those muscles shifted in their dance. Lucifer wanted to say something, anything, but words failed him.

The rhythm of the music changed slightly and a devilish grin spread across Diavolo's face. Lucifer raised an eyebrow in silent question when Diavolo suddenly dipped him, strong arms supporting him as Lucifer went with it. As they came up again, they both started laughing. It'd been a while since Lucifer had ever felt so light and free.

But all good things had to end some way or another. As the dance came to an end, a bitter smile spread on Lucifer's face, his wet eyes betraying the nonchalantness he tried to portray.

Lucifer knew he was in over his head. In the end, to Diavolo this whole dance didn't have as much meaning as it did to Lucifer. Lucifer had known this the moment Diavolo had knelt before him.

His most loyal servant and _friend_ was about to betray him terribly. Brutus himself had taken possession of Lucifer. He knew Diavolo trusted him, yet he couldn't bring himself to give up on his pride and admit that he loved him. After all, Diavolo deserved different things. A fallen angel turned demon wasn't a partner anyone could be proud of, especially not Lucifer, the poster child for the failings of his holier than though heavenly father.

The dance came to an end and Lucifer could feel the petals coming up again, but this time it felt different. The branches and roots in his chest were shifting slowly and Lucifer could feel them growing in size. He took in a wheezing breath as he noticed Diavolo watching him.

“Lucifer?” he asked, a worried expression on his face. “Talk to me.”

Quietly, Lucifer shook his head as he struggled to breathe. There was no doubt, this was it. Right from the beginning, he knew he would be pushing it, spending a whole day with Lord Diavolo, yet still, there had always been this irrefutable part of him that was yearning for Diavolo.

The only thing Lucifer hadn't anticipated was that he would have to go so soon. He had thought there were at least a few hours more left.

All of a sudden, his nose started to bleed profusely whilst a trickle of blood escaped his mouth at the same time.

Quickly, Lucifer removed himself from Diavolo, whipping out his handkerchief and pressing it to his nose with one hand. Diavolo stared at him in shock, eyes wide and mouth agape.

For the last time, Lucifer raised his hand to Diavolo's face, cradling it for a moment as he locked eyes with him one last time. “I'm sorry, but this is goodbye.”

Before Diavolo could answer, Lucifer bolted out of the room, a few guests looking after him in a confused manner.

Lord Diavolo stood frozen in place for several moments. “Damn it,” he muttered as he rushed over to Barbatos. “You host the party!” he simply yelled as he darted out of the room, following Lucifer.

Lucifer ran as far as his feet could carry him, his lungs protesting with every step he took. He made it out into the gardens when he finally collapsed in a field of amaryllises, trying to keep himself somewhat upright as his hands dug into the stems of the flowers. An aching pain spread through his body as his throat filled up with oh so many roses, fully bloomed with thick thorns. Lucifer coughed up plenty of flowers, lost in a sea mixed with red, white and blue. He tried to push himself up again, elbows digging into wet earth, only to collapse again.

In his delusional, pain-riddled mind, Lucifer thought he could make out a voice, desperately reaching out to him. A hoarse, “No,” escaped his lips as he heard footsteps approaching.

“Lucifer!” Diavolo yelled out again, roaming through the gardens, panicked yet determined. Something was incredibly wrong. From the way Lucifer had been acting to the words he had left him with; Diavolo felt like an utter imbecile for not having intervened earlier. What had he been stalling for? Everyone had told him about Lucifer's hanahaki disease, hell, he himself had seen what it did to Lucifer. Yet still, he had decided to live in denial and rebuke any sort of argument that would so much as imply that Lucifer had hanahaki because of him. Guilt was tearing Diavolo apart. He had to find Lucifer, no matter what it would take.

He ran through the gardens, using his powers to detect Lucifer's presence. Right there, he could feel it, weak but definitely there.

Diavolo looked around and finally, he spotted a blurry figure in the distance, lying on the ground, trying to get up out of a field of flowers. He increased his speed as he ran towards it, almost tripping over his own feet as he ran across the flower field, dropping to his knees right in front of Lucifer's body.

Diavolo could only stare in horror. Lucifer was laying on the ground, surrounded by white and blue roses, struggling to breathe as ungodly amounts of blood slowly poured out of of his nose, his mouth, his eyes.

With shaking hands Diavolo cradled Lucifer's body. “No, no, no. Don't do this to me. You can't do this to me,” he muttered as he pressed Lucifer's body against his own. With one hand, he stroked through dark locks of hair, wishing there was any way for him to end Lucifer's suffering.

“D-Diavolo?” Lucifer uttered quietly, coughing up more blood along the way. “This isn't how-” A bunch of roses came up and landed in-between Lucifer and Diavolo. “This isn't how this was supposed to end,” he finished, his voice weak and damaged. He looked up at Diavolo, his gaze hazy as a single bloody tear rolled down his cheek and he lost himself in another bout of coughs. “This time it isn't Lilith who's dying,” he mused quietly and reached up to Diavolo, shaky fingers lingering on his cheek. “You weren't supposed to know.”

Diavolo shook his head as tears filled with eyes. “What can I do? Tell me what you need and I will do it! I can't lose you Lucifer!”

Tiredly, Lucifer shook his head, picking at one of the roses he had thrown up with tired fingers. A shuttered breath escaped his heavy lungs as he gathered all the energy he had left to pick up two roses with one hand, one white and one blue, pushing them onto Diavolo's chest as his head sank down. Lucifer coughed once again, wheezing under the strain his lungs were on. After that, he lifted his head again, searching for Diavolo's eyes. Once he met them, he chuckled faintly, and without breaking eye contact, he uttered the truth he had been trying to hide so desperately for so long. “There is nothing you can do about it, because they are for you.”

The roots in his chest twisted painfully and Lucifer buried his hands in Diavolo's suit jacket, knuckles turning white. An unnatural groan escaped his lips, a groan that would follow Diavolo into his worst nightmares.

“Lucifer, you-” Diavolo started as he grabbed his hand, holding it so he could feel that Lucifer was there, that he was still alive, that he hadn't died just like that. “Why didn't you say anything?” he asked.

A slow smile crept onto Lucifer's face. “For your sake, “ he mumbled, eyes far away as he tried to deal with the pain, almost crushing Diavolo's hand as he held onto life with all he had.

“For my sake?! Lucifer, what were you thinking! Don't tell me you-” Diavolo froze when realization hit him. Desperately, he pulled Lucifer's weak body closer to his chest. “You didn't want to endanger my career. You didn't think you were worthy to stand by my side as my lover,” he concluded.

Lucifer let go of Diavolo's suit jacket, the look on his face exposed and raw as he looked up at the dark night sky. “I swore to be your obedient servant first,” he said quietly. “It is my duty-”

Diavolo put Lucifer back onto the ground, kneeling beside him as he held onto his hand for dear life. “Bullshit! Lucifer, can't you see how enamoured I am with you? Can't you see that I've loved you ever since I first laid my eyes on you?!” he exclaimed, his head bowed down, shoulders shaking

Lucifer's eyes widened as he coughed up more flower buds covered in blood. “H-how? How could you,” he started, but was interrupted by the painful feeling in his chest, roots and stems roaming around dangerously. There was no way his body could withstand this much longer.

Weakly, he reached out to Lord Diavolo, placing a weak hand on top of his head, ruffling through the crimson locks.

Strangely, Lucifer didn't feel any pain anymore. A gentle kind of numbness spread through his body as he could still make out the feeling of blood trickling down his nose. His vision was blurry and nothing but static filled his mind.

He was a fool, after all.

“I think this is it,” he mumbled as he felt himself fading. He let his hand slide down Diavolo's head, until it was cupping his cheek weakly. He let his thumb graze over Diavolo's lips once. “I am devoted to no one but you,” Lucifer started, taking a break to collect himself in his wrangled state. “How could I love anybody else.”

A rattling breath escaped Lucifer's lungs and finally, Diavolo knew what he had to do. He knew that he had to do the thing he had wanted to do for so many years now.

His hand slid over Lucifer's, which was still cradling Diavolo's face. With the other one, he propped himself up, palm sinking into the wet, earthy ground as Diavolo leaned forward, locking his lips with Lucifer's.

For a moment, there was no reaction and Diavolo feared that he had been too late. Another tear rolled down his cheek as he tried to pull back, but stopped dead in his tracks when Lucifer turned his hand, interlocking their hands instead. Slowly, he moved his lips against Diavolo's, desperately yet softly. The sickly scent of dead flowers and rotting blood that had been filling his nostrils was replaced with the deep, comforting scent of honey, leather and smoke. For the first time in forever, Lucifer's heartbeat slowed down from the irregular beating of a sick person to a regular rhythmic thumping.

As they separated, Diavolo collapsed on top of Lucifer, feeling drained.

Lucifer tried to push him off as he bent over to the side, his chest burning and itching in a completely new way. He felt the sting of thorns again and as he felt the telltale convulsing of his throat that indicated what exactly was about to happen, he bent over, completely exhausted.

A myriad of flowers, thorny stems, buds and petals evicted themselves from his body, splashing to the ground with ugly, wet noises.

For a few minutes Lucifer simply stayed like that, perched over to the side, just waiting for his body to calm down again. As the plants stopped flowing out of him harshly and violently, he let himself fall back onto his back again and almost immediately, Diavolo embraced Lucifer tightly, burying his face in the crook of his neck.

“Don't scare me like that ever again,” he whispered as he sat up again, pulling Lucifer up with him. Lucifer held onto Diavolo, his head resting on his shoulder, sitting in a field of flowers, both normal and cursed ones, and he breathed. Finally, he could breathe again; freely and without any regrets.

After a while, Diavolo slowly pulled back, cradling Lucifer's face. He took in his rough appearance, his ruffled hair and bloodied face, and simply stroked Lucifer's cheeks with his thumbs. “I can't put into words how much I love you,” he mumbled. Lucifer simply looked at him, allowed himself to face Diavolo without any lies. He reached out with now calm hands and placed one hand on the back of Diavolo's neck, the other on his cheek. Lucifer closed the space between them, their lips connecting softly. He breathed out and his whole body relaxed. Never would he have thought that he possessed the right to have this. To have Diavolo.

Diavolo sighed as Lucifer moved his lips against his, lost in the moment.

“There they are!”

Reluctantly, they pulled apart as Asmodeus came running towards them, followed by all of his brothers, Solomon and Yuuta, stopping dead in his tracks as he took in the scene before him. “Lucifer, are you okay?!” he exclaimed, tears welling up in his eyes. “We were so worried, suddenly the two of you were gone and no one knew where you went, but then Barbatos said-”

Lucifer smiled for once, truly and honestly. “I will be alright,” he simply said.

Asmodeus' eyes went back and forth between Diavolo and Lucifer, who were sitting there, still quite entangled, none of them having found the strength to let go just yet.

Satan scoffed as he looked at them while Asmodeus ran over to Solomon's side, burying his head in his chest as he wailed. “I'm so relieved!”

“Took you long enough, old man,” Satan said, relief obvious on his face despite his unwillingness to display it.

“You're right, Satan,” Lucifer started, but was interrupted by Diavolo getting up again. He held out his hands and Lucifer grabbed them, letting Diavolo help pull him up. Once they were standing again, he stumbled and Diavolo grabbed him, supporting him so that he wouldn't fall again. After all, Lucifer had just escaped certain death.

“We both have been idiots,” Diavolo admitted.

“Utter fools,” Lucifer added as he relaxed against Lord Diavolo's side.

Softly, Diavolo planted a kiss on first Lucifer's hand, then his cheek. Lucifer flushed red, not used to the concept of physical contact of this kind in front of his whole family.

“In the end, we made it.” Diavolo smiled broadly. “We made it.”

Lucifer smiled softly as he watched his family fuss over him in their usual chaotic way.

After all, he was glad to still be alive, because in all names of hell, they needed him. To some degree, he also needed them just as much.

As he let hid head drop onto Diavolo's shoulder, his body exhausted to the core, Lucifer smiled freely and openly, enjoying the crispy air as he breathed in without any hindrances.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My dudes! It's been like ten days but when you're finished with the chapter you might get why it took me this long. Yo this was supposed to be like 4.5k words at most i kind of really escalated. I really hope you enjoyed this fanfic, since I had very much fun writing it! Also hello to reader who filter by finished works only, nice to meet you ^^  
> It's weird for me to think about the fact that this fanfic is almost finished now, i really poured my heart into it and it gave me serotonin when I needed it. Ah shit, i'm getting sentimental. Anyways, i would like to apologize to Lucifer for continuously torturing him but on the other hand, he sometimes deserves it, he's kind of an ass.  
> Oh yeah, for those who are interested, i might write a smut chapter for this fanfic which i will post as a seperate work. Since I've started this fanfic like two months ago and the rating would change with a smut chapter, I feel more comfortable doing that with an extra chapter since i can't tell how many minors have followed this work. And no matter what, i don't want to expose the young'uns to unexpected smut like that's a big no no.  
> Anyways, thank you for reading, i hope you have an amazing day! Comments, kudos and criticism are always appreciated and loved!  
> If you want to reach me you can visit me on tumblr @leviathanswingman or on twitter @simpingshrimp  
> Bye guys, i love y'all <3


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